


Ohana

by katydid13



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-15 19:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1315747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katydid13/pseuds/katydid13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary is in an accident. When the worst happens, Steve has to step up and care for Joan. Catherine helps him out, and he realizes a few things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Mari for being a wonderful beta. I know I veered farther outside of canon than she likes to go. All the mistakes are mine. I can’t stop playing with it. The story is complete, but I haven’t divided it up into chapters completely. I’ll post decent sized chunks every day or every other day (depending on work and real life) until it’s done. Constructive criticism is much appreciated.

Steve had been looking for a chance to apologize to Mary for his reaction to Joan. Getting a moment alone in the kitchen with his sister during the cookout he was hosting seemed like a good start.

“Mare, I know I was harsh when you first adopted Joan, but you are a really good mother. You are building a good life for the two of you. Joan is a great kid. I really want to be a part of her life. In fact, I was thinking maybe I could watch her some time.”

“Thanks Steve. I’d really like that. You’re so good with Grace; I know Joan is going to be lucky to have you in her life,” Mary said as she gave her brother a hug.

“I love you Mare and I love Joan.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

When Mary didn’t call, Steve figured he needed to make the first move so she would know he meant it. The question was, how?

At lunch, Steve decided maybe Danny could help him out. He had experience having an adult relationship with his sisters. Given that his sister had asked him to straighten Eric out, clearly at least one of them trusted Danny with her kid.

“So I was a little harsh with Mary when she first adopted Joan, but she's a good mother. I told her that and that I want to be supportive; get to know my niece. I think I need to make the first move. But I'm not really sure what to do. Joan's a little young for me to take her to do anything. Asking Mary to bring her over to the house seems like lots of work for Mary, but I don't want her to think I'm checking up on her if I offer to come over. What did you do for your sisters?"

"Well, look at you, trying to improve the mammal to mammal communication. I'm impressed. My sisters and I have a totally different relationship. They’re older than I am. I was a teenager when Eric was born. Plus, they couldn't even believe Rachel left me alone with Grace when she was a baby."

"Really? You were already a detective when Grace was born and you and Rachel had been married a couple of years right?"

"Well, yeah, but their husbands didn't really do diapers or infants. And I'm the kid brother. It took them awhile to see that I was more hands on with Gracie than they were used to. Why don't you ask Catherine to help smooth things over?"

"I want Mary to know it's from me, not something I'm doing to win points with Cath. Cath has actually looked after Joan, but only when I’m working or away on reserve weekends. This needs to come from me."

 

"So Catherine likes babies? That's interesting."

 

"What's so interesting? Kono likes babies too. A woman can have varied interests."

 

"Kono is not in her 30s, in a relationship with a man who won't call her his girlfriend. Kono did not just leave active duty military service to live near a man who won't call her his girlfriend. I’m fairly certain that Adam would happily start an honest branch of the Noshimuri family with her in a heartbeat."

 

"God, Danno. I'm not that big an idiot. Cath and I kept things casual when we weren't really in a position to be serious. And she didn’t leave active duty for me, we did talk about it and she is staying in the reserves. But girlfriend just doesn't cover it. She’s more than that. I want to marry her and start a family together. But we've never been in one place together to be sure that our relationship really works when being together is not a time limited special occasion. We’ve seen couples flame out when things get real. We want to make sure we really work. I asked her to move in with me. She wants to keep her own place until we’re sure. I’m sure. I just need to pick out a ring and figure out if it’s worse to piss off the Admiral by not talking to him before I propose formally or piss off Cath by talking to the Admiral before I propose formally.”

“Steve, do you do anything half way? You went from not admitting a commitment to being ready to marry a woman in what, like, 7 months. That’s fast.”

“It’s not that strange. We’ve known each other for a long time. We’re just cautious.”

“Because cautious is something you do so often. Also, why is it even a question about whether or not you ask Catherine’s dad for his permission to marry her? Of course, you, do. That’s what honorable men do in the civilized world.”

“Seriously Danno?  Seriously?  I thought your comments about “letting” Cath work for Billy were just poor wording, but I really wonder. Cath doesn’t need her father’s permission to do anything, and she certainly doesn’t need mine. I know it’s tradition, but Cath hasn’t asked her father for permission to do anything in a very long time. I know she doesn’t like the idea, and I can’t say I blame her. Her analysis of intelligence data helped drive American foreign policy, I don’t think she needs her father’s permission to get married. I also know the Admiral, and I respect him, I do want him to know that while Catherine is absolutely capable of taking care of herself, I love her and I want to make sure she doesn’t have to face anything alone. I was thinking maybe I could talk to him before I give her a ring and tell him that, without actually asking his permission. I’ll probably end up with both of them mildly pissed at me, but I think Cath forgives faster.”

“OK, I guess I’m just more traditional than you are. But you’re right; I shouldn’t have talked about you “allowing” Catherine to do anything. My history with Rachel clouded my judgment. But back to this Mary and Joan situation, I think I’ve got an idea. Grace’s school is having a family carnival thing in a couple of weeks. You can offer to bring Joan along. It might make Mary feel better if she knows you have back-up. I know you can handle yourself, and it sounds like the practice might be good, but new moms can be a little nervous. This way you’ll have me and a bunch of other parents around.”

“That’s a good idea. But what about Gracie? Is she looking forward to time without Charlie?”

“Nah, Grace has asked about Joan. She likes babies even with Charlie around. And she loves her Uncle Steve. You are a good influence on her. Hell, now that you’ve got your act together with Catherine, you guys could end up being the most functional relationship she knows. And I’d be thrilled if she figures out what she wants out of life before she gets married and has kids. Although, hopefully she chooses someone who gets shot at and caught in explosions less than you do.”

 

“Thanks, Danny. That means a lot,” say Steve. “While Cath and I didn’t make any promises she’s been it for me for a long time. There was that period when we took a break, and she dated Billy, but except from those months,it’s only been Catherine since we first got together in San Diego when I was 28. I know it’s not driving lessons, dates, and a two-bedroom in Weehawken, but it worked for us. It’s also not something; I made Cath do. She’s always been more wary of commitment than I am. She grew watching what a marriage to an active duty sailor looked like. I haven’t been stringing her along or using her.”

 

“Steve, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you treated Catherine with anything less than respect. I should know better. This also explains why you’ve been largely oblivious to other women all these year.” Danny decides to change the subject. “So how long before you and Cath start popping out the next generation of Naval Intelligence?”

 

Steve shruged. “The kid thing is still under discussion. I’d like three or four, fairly close together, starting as soon as we can make it legal, since we aren’t getting any younger. Cath is thinking more like one or two and wants to get more professionally settled before she’s pregnant. She’s the one who actually has to be pregnant, so we’ll probably start with one in the next couple years and figure it out from there.”

 

“That sounds like a good plan. Although, I find it funny that you are opposed to asking her father before you propose, but traditional enough that you want to make sure you are married before you knock her up,” said Danny.

 

“Well, even though she’ll only be in the reserves, it’s still easier paperwork wise with the Navy if we are married. Plus, while things have come a long way, the Navy can still be a boys club and traditional. A female officer who is pregnant without being married is going to take some shit from the old guard. Some of it about not wanting to have to deploy if needed. If we are married it will be more expected, the same guys that would cluck about her getting pregnant to avoid deployment will be buying Annapolis bibs. Plus, while Cath isn’t very religious her family is. Her grandfather was a Navy Chaplin. It’s not like it really changes our time table, so why put her in the position to have to listen to her aunts bitch about a shot-gun wedding? Plus, I want our kids to know they were part of a plan. As part of the whole Doris fiasco, I found out my parents lied about when they got married. Instead of being born 18 months after they got married, I was born six months after they got married. I kind of wonder if Doris had to make a quick exit she wasn’t ready to make, and that was one reason it was so easy for her to walk away from us.”

 

“Look Steve, I’m not going to hold your parents up as a role model for how to handle family life but from what I’ve heard from Chin and Duke, your dad adored you and Mary. And while your mother is a piece of work, she really clearly does love you and Mary in her own messed-up CIA agent kind of way. Your parents weren’t teenagers. As much as you have your plan, and I think it’s a good plan, wouldn’t you be over the moon if Catherine announced tonight that she was pregnant?”

 

“Yeah, I would be. I would be. I hope you’re right about my parents. I just want to do better.”

 

“Steve, I’m sure you will. “Not faking your own death and sending your children away from the one living parent, is a pretty low bar to exceed.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve never did get a chance to take his niece to the carnival. A few hours after Danny and he got back from lunch, he got a call from Duke saying that Mary and Joan had been in a car accident and were being taken to The Queen’s Medical Center.

Catherine insisted on driving Steve to the hospital. When they arrived in the ER, Duke was there to meet them. He explained that a drunk driver crossed the center median on the highway plowing into the driver’s side. Mary was in serious condition and being evaluated. Joan appeared uninjured thanks to her car seat, but was being checked out just to be sure.

Duke gently guided Steve and Catherine over to where Joan was being treated and introduced them to the young female doctor examining Joan. Joan was screaming, and Steve felt panicked.

The panic must have showed on his face. “Commander McGarrett, your niece appears to be just fine,” as she picked Joan up and handed her to Steve. Joan quieted somewhat.

The doctor continued “There she’s much happier with a familiar face. She’ll probably have some minor bruising from the car seat straps, and she may be a bit sore. We’ve given her some children’s ibuprofen, and you’ll probably want to give her some regularly over the next several days. We’d like to keep an eye on her a little longer. Plus, the attending pediatrician needs to take a look at her. She should be ready to go home this evening.”

“Thanks. That’s a relief,” said Steve smiling at the doctor.

At this point, Joan started trying to worm her way out of Steve’s arms and into Catherine’s. Steve looked startled. Catherine said “Steve, why don’t you give her to me and you can go check on Mary.”

Pretty quickly Joan stopped whimpering and snuggled up against Catherine, who took that opportunity to call Danny so he could update 5-0. “Hey, Danny, I just wanted to give you an update. It was a drunk driver. Joan is fine. All I’ve heard about Mary is that she’s in serious condition. Steve is checking on her now. It sounds like they’re going to let us take Joan home tonight, but we may be here awhile waiting on Mary. We’re going to need a new car seat, some diapers, bottles and well whatever else goes in a diaper bag.”

“That’s good news Catherine. I’ll tell the team, and we’ll organize getting the stuff together. Keep us posted,” said Danny.

“Thanks Danny.”

“No problem, Catherine. I’ve got to go; it looks like Chin needs to talk to me.”

“Bye.”

Just then, the young doctor that had been in earlier came in followed by a grandfatherly looking doctor. “Hello, I’m Dr. Hale and you met Dr. Walker earlier. Let’s take a quick look at your little girl, and you can take her home,” said the grandfatherly looking doctor.

“Her mother was also in the car accident. Her uncle is checking on her,” said the young doctor.

“I’m a friend of the family,” Catherine.

Dr. Hale took Joan from Catherine’s arms. “Well, let’s get a look at her.”

Joan seemed apprehensive about the older man, but calmed down when he started making funny faces as her while he checked her over.

“Well, other than some minor bruising from the car seat straps, she seems fine. It does look like she’s getting a new tooth, so she maybe fussy and run a low grade fever. You should give her children’s ibuprofen to help with any pain from the being bounced around and the new tooth. Letting her chew on wash cloth that you’ve dampened and put in the freezer may also help.”

Just then Steve stepped into the curtain area. The doctor said “You must be the uncle. She’s just fine, although teething, so she’ll be fussy. I’m sure she is fine, but if there are changes in her breathing, any blood in her diaper, or her belly seems tender or rigid, bring her back in.”

Steve said “I’m a trained Navy field medic. It sounds like I should be looking for some of the same things we’d look for in an adult, but we can’t rely on her to tell us what is up. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right,” said the doctor. “A nurse will be in shortly with discharge papers and then you can take her home. Or I guess to wait on word about her mother. I hope she is doing well. She’s in good hands.”

Steve sits down in the chair next to Catherine. “I’m so glad Joan is fine. Mary will probably be fine, but it will be a long road. She’s got a concussion, a crushed pelvis, some other internal injuries, and a bunch of bruises. She’s in surgery now.”

Catherine shifted to hold Joan with one hand and took Steve’s hand in the other, squeezing his hand and saying “It will be all right. And I’ll be here to help you. I called Danny and let him know that Joan was fine, and Mary was in serious condition. I also asked him organize getting a car seat for us to take her home in and put a diaper bag to get us through today.”

“Thanks Catherine. You’re a life saver,“ said Steve as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Meanwhile, at 5-0 Headquarters, Danny was filling Chin and Kono in on Joan and Mary.

“Guys, Catherine says Joan is fine, and Mary is in serious condition and will need surgery. She asked us to get together a car seat and diaper bag for Joan. I also need to call the Governor and update him. I think it would be better if he didn’t call Steve until we know more about what’s up with Mary. And we need to wrap-up this case up. I’m going to see if Rachel can help us out. She likes Steve.”

Luckily, Rachel was happy to help out. She called Danny to meet her at the car about an hour and a half later, just as the team was wrapping up the case.

“Any news Danny?” asked Rachel.

“No, Steve called a little awhile ago. Mary’s still in surgery.”

“Well, please send our best to them. Grace wants you to give Joan, Steve, Mary, and Catherine hugs from her. Where I could, I used Charlie’s old things; it seemed faster. This car seat from Stan’s car was hardly used. I found a few gender neutral outfits, some books and toys and stopped at a drug store to stock the diaper bag. I also thought Steve might be able to use the Pack N’ Play so Joan has a place to stay.”

“Hey, Rachel, thank you so much. This will be a huge help.”

“You’re welcome. These people mean the world to Grace, so I’m happy to help.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

After Joan was discharged, Steve and Catherine took her to the surgical waiting room. They hadn’t been there very long when Danny came in.

“Any news?” asked Danny.

“No, not yet,” said Steve. “They warned me it could be awhile.”

“Well, she’s strong, I’m sure she’ll be fine. I’ve got stuff for Joan in a diaper bag and more stuff in the car. Rachel actually put it all together. Some of it is Charlie’s outgrown stuff.There are toys, bottles and stuff in the diaper bag. Grace sends hugs for all of you.”

“Thanks, man,” said Steve.

“Danny, please thank Grace,” said Catherine.

Danny sat down to wait with them. Joan started to cry, and Catherine jiggled and patted her. After realizing the diaper was a bit squishy, Catherine said “Oh, so that’s your problem, Joan. Guys, it’s time for Joan and me to hit the head.”

“Cath, you don’t need to change her, I can,” said Steve.

“I noticed a sign for a changing table on the ladies room door, it’s fine. You should be here if they have any word about Mary,” said Cath.

“How are you doing Steve? And don’t tell me fine,” said Danny.

“Well, I think I’m going to get to spend more time with my niece. From what I know, this is going to be a long recovery, with 3 or 4 months where caring for a baby will be physically difficult for her. Plus, Mary’s apartment is just a temporary rental. She has to be out by the end of next month. She’s looking for a permanent place. So I guess I’ll move her stuff into my place, and we’ll figure it out from there,” said Steve.

“I think that sounds like a good plan. You know that I’ll help you guys out. Chin and Kono too. I talked to the Governor today. He’s put you and Catherine on leave for the next few days. Then he’d like you to give him a call, and you guys can work something out. He mentioned part-time work and doing some of the paperwork and research from home. He clearly considers you and Catherine a couple.And far be it from me to nag, but don’t put off making any decisions too long because of this.”

“Thanks Danny. I kind of forgot about the Governor. And I won’t wait too long.”

Steve saw Catherine carrying Joan down the hall. Catherine was pointing things out and chatting with the little girl. For one brief moment, he forgot he was waiting on word about Mary, and let himself think about a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes like her mother. He liked the idea.

Just as Catherine reached Steve and Danny, a nurse came out and said “McGarrett family?”  Steve waved her over.

“Hi, Ms. McGarrett is stable. It’s taking time to control the bleeding, but she is stable. I just wanted to give you an update.”

“Thanks, we appreciate that,” said Steve.

After the nurse left, Chin and Kono joined the group. Chin asked, “How is Mary?”

“A nurse just came by and said they are still working on her, but she’s stable,” said Steve.

“Well, we thought you could use some food, so I brought sandwiches and stuff,” said Kono holding up two bags.

“Also, I got the details on the accident from Duke. The Van Horne kid that sold his brother’s security code was the driver. He was out on bail pending trial. He’ll live. His BAC was 2.0, and he tested positive for coke. He was driving on suspend license. This isn’t his first DUI. His license was suspended because of a previous DUI.”

“Son of a bitch,” said Steve. Then he looked at his niece and realized he should watch his mouth.

Everyone else nodded, because there really wasn’t much more to say.

The group ate and took turns entertaining Joan. They were the only people in the waiting room. Eventually, a doctor came out and walked up to the group and says “McGarrett family?”

“Yes,” said Steve.

“I’m Doctor Kane, I just finished Ms. McGarrett’s surgery. It took us some time to control the bleeding, but we did. I had to use some screws to do the repairs, but she should fully recover. Rehab will take awhile, but she should make a full recovery. They are getting her settled in recovery and you should be able to see her soon. I’m afraid you can’t bring the child to recovery. Once she’s settled in a regular room which won’t be until at least tomorrow, the child can come visit as long as she doesn’t have a fever.”

“Thank you Doctor,” said Catherine.

Danny, Chin, and Kono left. Steve, Catherine, and Joan headed over to the recovery waiting area.

“I’ll stay with you until you can see her. Then I think I should take Joan home. I’ve got Mary’s spare key. I think it will be easier for me to crash there tonight, and we can see about moving Joan into your place tomorrow. Remember, I’m here for whatever you need.”

“Thanks Cath. I’m not sure how I would be making it through with you.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve sat by Mary’s bed waiting for her to wake up. She started to stir and then in a groggy voice said “Joan, where is Joan?”

“She’s fine Mary. She wasn’t hurt. Catherine took her home. They don’t allow small children to visit here,” said Steve.

Just then a nurse came in and shooed Steve away, while she checked on Mary, saying that she would be ready to move to a regular room soon.

In the new room, Mary started to apologize. “Steve, I’m so sorry that you’re going to have to take care of Joan for awhile, I know I said this wouldn’t happen.”

“Mare, getting hit by a drunk driver isn’t your fault. Even if you weren’t a single parent you would need some help. Joan is my niece; of course I’ll look after her. Catherine is going to help. You just concentrate on getting well.”

“Thanks, Steve. I’m fading again. You should go home and get some sleep. You can bring my Joanie to see me later.”

“I think I will Mary. I’ll be back.”


	2. Chapter 2

After a very late, emotionally exhausting day Steve let himself sleep in. He woke up to the sounds of a giggling baby. He smiled thinking Catherine must have brought Joan over. He got out of bed and followed the laughter to Mary’s old bedroom. Catherine had set-up a changing station on the dresser and was tickling Joan.

“Good morning,” said Steve as he planted a kiss on Catherine’s neck.

“Good morning. How is Mary doing?” asked Catherine.

“She’s doing okay. She’d like us to bring Joan by sometime today,” answered Steve.

“That’s a good idea. Why don’t we head out and get some brunch. Then we can swing by the hospital and see Mary,” said Catherine.

Steve saw the diaper bag on the floor by the changing table and asked “I’m guessing we need to pack this up, do you know what needs to go in it?”

“Well, it should have diapers, wipes, rash cream, extra clothes, something to amuse her, a bottle and something to snack on like Cheerios. We just need to grab some bottles, and we are good to go,” answered Catherine.

“OK, so how do you know this?” asked Steve.

“I have friends with kids, including Mary, plus, I was the most popular babysitter on base for many years as a teenager,” replied Catherine smiling.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

After getting Joan settled in her high chair, Steve looks at the menu and says “Cath what do we get for Joan? I have no idea what to feed her.”

“Let me take a look,” says Catherine while browsing the menu. “I think we should order her a fruit cup and I’ll give her some of my pancakes. Remember her stomach is pretty small.”

Joan starts to fuss, so Steve takes her out of the highchair and holds her making faces at her. Catherine reaches into the diaper bag and gets out a toy for Joan, which she happily plays with.

The waitress came to take their order.

“Cath, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I don’t even know how to feed her or what goes in a diaper bag. But this isn’t your responsibility, it’s mine. And I feel like I’m failing Mary and Joan.”

“Steve, I’m happy to help you. You guys are the closest thing I have to family out here. You don’t have much experience with babies. That’s ok. You can learn. We both have stuff to learn. Maybe we should pick up a book on infant care. Also, if you’re worried about your ability to be a father, I have no doubts about that. I know you. I suspect you will read up on everything. Plus, while infants don’t let you sleep, they don’t need too much beyond feeding, changing and cuddling. You don’t start with an 8 month old.”

“Thanks for the pep talk Cath. I think I’d feel better if I did some reading. And as far as being the closest thing to family you have out here, you are right. However, I want to revisit that “closest thing to” designation soon, but not here.”

“I’m looking forward to that conversation,” said Catherine with a smile.

Just then the waitress brought the food. Steve settled Joan back in the high chair. She banged her hands on the table and squealed. Then she started to eat the fruit. Catherine cut some pieces of pancake and put them on Joan’s tray.

The trio settled in to eat. Joan was fascinated by the food and the people around her. Steve and Catherine chatted about less serious subjects and watched Joan.

Steve’s phone rang. He answered “McGarrett. Hi, Danny. That would be really helpful. Thank you so much. We’ll see all of you then. Thanks.”

“What did Danny have to say?” asked Catherine.

“He’s going to meet us at Mary’s to pack up Joan’s stuff later. Chin and Kono are going to bring over dinner and groceries to my place later. Apparently, Kono has some ideas about child care, because we’ll need something more flexible than what Mary has.”

“That’s wonderful. Did anyone call Mary’s work?  They need to know. Do you think they will hold her job?” asked Catherine

“I called them from the hospital. I’m not sure if they will hold the job. I’m also not sure that Mary will be able to spend all the time on her feet that working as a store manager requires. She really liked this job and was doing well. You know; one of the things that I’m maddest at my parents about is how their choices affected Mary. It was hard on me too, but I was older, and while I have my issues, I don’t think I was as deeply affected. But sometimes it seems like Mary hasn’t recovered. I know Aunt Deb tried her best, and maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Catherine reached across the table and grabbed Steve’s hand and squeezed it. “I suspect things would have been very different with your parents, but you and Mary survived. And until this accident you were both thriving. We’ll just have to help Mary get back up again.”

“Thanks Cath,” said Steve smiling at her.

The waitress comes by with the check. At the same time Steve’s phone rings again.

“McGarrett. Hi Duke. OK, OK, She’s doing pretty well. Thanks for the update,” said Steve.

“What’s up?” asks Cath.

“Duke wanted to let me know that the Van Horn family lawyer asked him to pass on the family’s sincerest apologies and that they will be coordinating with Mary’s insurance company, but plan to offer a significant sum for pain, suffering, and lost wages, in addition to covering all the medical treatment she needs,” said Steve.

“Well, I think that is the least they can do. Hopefully, they will offer enough not to have to go to court,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

As Steve held a fussy Joan in his arms, he hoped that seeing her mom would help calm the little girl down. He thought she had been remarkably calm so far.

As soon as they got near the nurses’ station, one of the nurses approached them saying “Commander McGarrett, your sister developed an infection overnight. We changed antibiotics and are doing a blood culture to figure out exactly what we are dealing with. Between the fever and the pain medicine, she’s not terribly lucid. While, I’m sure she wants to see her little girl, I’m not sure she will remember it. It might upset her daughter more to see her mommy and not have her mommy respond then it would to not see her. It’s your decision, but it’s just something for you and your wife to think about. We’ve got a waiting room up here so you can take turns.”

“Thanks,” said Steve. “I appreciate the advice. We’ll think about it.”

Steve turned to Catherine and said “Do you think she’s right?  I’d hate to get Joan more upset, but I think she wants her mom.”

“I think the nurse probably has more experience with this than we have. I can see it being more upsetting for Joan if Mary doesn’t respond to her. So I’d say we take turns visiting Mary. OK?”

“That’s great,” says Steve as he hands Joan to Catherine. “Again you’re a life saver!”

On the way to the waiting room, Catherine stopped at the nurse’s station and said “I’d really like to bring Mary McGarrett some things to make her more comfortable, but I don’t really know what. I’d appreciate clean underwear and my own pajamas, but I don’t think those are really appropriate here. Do you have any suggestions?”

“You’re right Mrs. McGarrett, those wouldn’t that useful. A hairbrush, socks, her own toothbrush, the toothpaste she likes, dry shampoo, short nightgowns, a cardigan sweater are some things people like with this kind of trauma. At some point, low key magazines are good. While, I’m supposed to discourage expensive things; tablets are popular. Given that her daughter is so young you might want to get one of those photo frames you can email photos to. Then she’ll have lots of pictures of her daughter and it’s easy to send new ones. We have your husband’s contact information, but we don’t have yours. Could you give it to me?”

“Oh, Commander McGarrett and I aren’t married. But Mary and I are friends, and if for some reason you can’t get him, I’m sure I can. I’ll give you my card. Thanks for the suggestions,” said Catherine as she handed the woman her card.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. But the way he looks at you and his niece, it’s clear he loves you very much,” said the nurse.

“It’s no problem,” said Catherine. Joan started to fuss again, Catherine said, “I think I need to deal with this little one.”

By the time Steve came to the waiting room, Joan was pretty worked up, and Catherine wasn’t having much luck calming her down. Steve had to admit to himself that watching that scene had him a little worried about sitting with Joan while Catherine went to see Mary.

“How is Mary?” asked Catherine trying to rub the fussy little girl’s back to help her calm down.

“She’s pretty out of it. I don’t really think she knew I was there. One of her doctors came by, and I spent most of the time talking to her. She said they managed to culture the infection. Luckily, it is one that responds to antibiotics, although, they do have to break out stronger ones they don’t like to use too often. The doctor thinks she’ll be more coherent tomorrow,” answered Steve.

“Well, I’m glad they can treat it. Why don’t we get this fussy little girl out of here? It doesn’t sound like Mary would know if I came in,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Packing up Joan’s stuff took longer than Steve would have thought.  He was thankful that his ohana has come to help. After everyone had left and a fussy Joan was finally asleep, Steve was relieved to be sitting out on the lanai in a lounge chair with Catherine. It felt normal, which had been in short supply for the last 48 hours. He was mulling over what to do about child care. The younger sister of one Kono’s friends had started working as a live-in nanny after she finished her associates degree in early childhood education, but the family was being transferred back to the mainland after only a couple of months. She was looking for something new and wouldn’t mind something short term.

They could easily turn his childhood bedroom into a room for her, and no one else used the hall bathroom that he and Mary had shared growing up. He figured that by the time Mary could do stairs easily, she’d be ready to be on her own, so he had planned on setting up Mary in his father’s study. Hiring a nanny would probably be the practical thing to do, he certainly could afford it with years of hazard pay be never spent. Plus, the settlement from the Van Horne kid should hopefully cover it. Plus, as strong as his relationship with Catherine was, he didn’t want her to feel like she had to spend all her time helping him the Joan. Joan was his responsibility. A live-in nanny would help with that. Just as Steve was about to ask Catherine what she thought of the plan, she spoke.

“Steve, when you asked me to move in with you, I said that I wasn’t ready to do that, until I was sure what I wanted, what we wanted. Well, if the offer still stands, I’d like to move in with you, because I’m pretty sure we both know this is what we both want.”

“Cath, yes, the offer stands. It’d be great if you moved in with me. You’ve been it for me for a long time. I know I haven’t said it out loud but I love you. I had something more romantic in mind to tell you. And I want to talk about making this thing permanent when things settle down, but I know a life with you is what I want.”

“I love you too. You might not have said it before, but you have showed me all the time. Hearing the words is wonderful, but the actions really matter. I look forward to that conversation about making it more permanent,” said Catherine.

Just as things began to heat up enough on the lounge chair that Steve and Catherine start making noises about moving upstairs, they heard Joan begin to wail desperately through the baby monitor. So they both headed upstairs to check on Joan.

What Steve and Catherine found was a wailing baby, who had vomited and appeared to also have diarrhea. She also looked sweaty and feverish. Both Steve and Catherine stood there stunned for a minute. Then Steve brushed a hand over her forehead and said “she’s way too hot. If I get her cleaned up and try to cool her down can you try to find the thermometer?”

Catherine in was rummaging around in the boxes before Steve even finished speaking.

Assessing the situation, Steve grabbed the towel of the dresser being used as a changing pad, stripped Joan out of everything including her diaper and wrapped her in the towel. He was on his way to the hall bathroom with the tub when he decided that a shower might be a better option given how dirty she was. So he detoured into the master bath, set Joan on the floor in the towel and stripped down to his boxers. After adjusting the shower to a cool temperature, he picked Joan up and stood held her under the spray. She calmed down a little and Steve started using the handheld shower head to clean her off. Then she vomited again, luckily landing on the shower floor.

Just then Catherine walked in with a thermometer, a clean diaper, and clean onesie. She smiled at the sight of Steve in his boxers in the shower trying to cool off and clean up his niece. She stepped to the edge of the shower and said “let’s take her temperature.”

“Great,” said Steve as he stepped out of the spray so Catherine could insert the probe in Joan’s ear.

“It’s 104,” said Catherine. “I think we should take her to the ER right?”

“Yeah, that’s high. I think we should take her to the ER; the worst that can happen is that they think of are over cautious newbies. Which we are,” said Steve. “Can you dress her while I get changed?”

Since Joan’s bed was pretty gross, Steve thought they needed something to contain the mess in the car. After he dried off, pulled on fresh boxers and got dressed, he grabbed a stack of towels. He thought one could go under Joan in the car seat and one around her.

They were seen pretty quickly in the ER. Thankfully it wasn’t busy. Pretty soon they were in a room. Joan was hooked up to an IV for fluids, and they had given her something for the fever. Joan was actually sleeping in a little portable crib.

The same young doctor from the day of the accident came back into the curtain and said “it looks like a norovirus, which generally isn’t serious, but in babies this young dehydration and febrile seizures can be an issue, so as a precaution, we’d like to admit her. You can take her home as soon as her fever is below 100, and she can keep down some food. We’ll also want to test for a UTI.”

“I’m sorry you are going to test for a what?” asked Steve.

“I’m sorry, a urinary tract infection,” said the doctor.

“If I remember my medic training those are pretty uncommon unless someone has had a catheter. Why do you think Joan might have one?”

The young doctor looks confused. Catherine jumps in and says “Steve had medic training as part of Navy SEAL training.”

The young doctor nods and says “That’s true for healthy men, which I’m guessing was the primary focus of your treatment for your training. They are much more common in women and babies, especially baby girls because of anatomical differences and diapers. Do you have any more questions?”

“No, thanks for the explanation,” said Steve.

“Great. Someone will be by in a little bit to take Joan upstairs and get her settled. We encourage you to stay with her as much as possible,” said the doctor before she stepped out of the cubicle.

“Hey Cath, what was the little look you and the doctor shared?”

“It was nothing, really. It’s just most grown women are familiar with UTIs.” said Catherine.

“Oh, so you’ve had one?  How bad are they?” asked Steve.

“I’ve had a couple over the years. Sometimes they were a souvenir of some of our more memorable weekends together like Mumbai. They can be pretty miserable for until you can get to a doctor. You have to pee often and it really burns when you do. But once you get an antibiotic and some other stuff for the symptoms it’s not bad,” answered Catherine.

“How? You were sick on the ship?  Why didn’t you ever say anything?” asked Steve.

“Well, it’s fairly easy for the normal bacteria to travel around during sex and cause the infection. Lots of sex after not having any for awhile can lead to one. I wasn’t really sick, I mean I guess I was, but I responded to the medicine fairly quickly. I never purposefully kept it from you. Generally by the time I got to talk to you it wasn’t an issue and I had other things I wanted to spend time talking about. And if we are going to talk about sharing health information, then I will remind you of all the times you have been shot without telling me,” said Catherine.

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t tell you about everything. I’m trying to be better about that,” said Steve.

Joan woke up and reached for Catherine, so she picked her up and began to cuddle the little girl. Steve love how comfortable Catherine and Joan were together.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

As much as Steve hated being in the hospital himself, he appreciated Joan being admitted. Everyone in pediatrics was so helpful with Joan, who still had a fever of 101 and couldn’t seem to keep Pedialyte down. Plus, someone else got to do all the laundry. And when they discovered Joan also had a UTI, a nurse showed him and Catherine how to squirt the antibiotics into the little girl’s mouth and avoid having it spit back at them.

Both Catherine and Joan were sleeping, Joan in the hospital crib and Catherine on the cot for parents. Steve looked at both of them and thought that as crazy as this had been, he really did want to share this with Catherine, although he did have to admit that perhaps one or two kids would be plenty.

Just then his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number but picked up right away.

The phone woke Catherine up. When she looked at Steve’s face she saw pure terror and heard him say “I’ll be right up, I’m actually in the hospital with her daughter right now.”

“Cath, Mary has a pulmonary embolism, and it doesn’t look good. I’ve got to go.”

“Steve, go, go. We’ll be fine here.”

Catherine wished she could go be with Steve, but knew that he couldn’t handle Joan being left alone even if she was well cared for. So she decided to call in re-enforcements.

“Danny, it’s Cath. I’m sorry to call so late. Steve and I were at the hospital with Joan; she got a norovirus and a high fever. She’ll be fine, but Steve got a call about Mary. Apparently, there is a pulmonary embolism, and he needed to go right away. Can you come be with him?  I don’t want him to be alone, and I need to stay with Joan. Thanks. Thanks so much.”

Knowing that Danny was on the way made her feel better, but she still didn’t have a very good feeling about any of what was going on. Joan decided to distract her by having another diaper blowout.

After Catherine and the staff cleaned Joan up and settled again, Catherine was thinking about calling Steve for an update. As she was pulling out her phone, Chin walked into the room.

“Hi, Danny called me. He didn’t think you should be waiting alone either. I just checked in with Danny, and they don’t really have any news yet,” said Chin.

“Thanks Chin. I really appreciate that.

Catherine and Chin sat there in silence.

They hadn’t been sitting there too long when Steve and Danny appeared in the doorway. One look at them and Catherine knew that the worst had happened, and Mary had died. She walked to Steve and wrapped her arms around him and just held him.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Two days later Steve was sitting out on the lanai and thinking about how many things had changed. He was effectively a dad and Catherine had moved some of her things in. Catherine and Kono cleared out his old bedroom and turned it into a nice bedroom for Maile, the new nanny. He thought they mostly used things from Catherine and Mary’s places, but he wasn’t positive because he felt a bit like he had been sleep walking through the last couple of days. Maile was to start the next day.

Chin and Danny helped him make the arrangements for a memorial service. They were going to scatter Mary’s ashes on the beach. Chin called Joe White and got him to call in enough favors to let Doris know her daughter was dead. Steve thought she was coming for the service being held in several days.

Steve also thought about Joan. He thought she was fussier that he remembered her being with Mary. Of course between having lost her mother, being sick, and teething, it was understandable. He just hoped that the adults in her life were doing everything they could to make her feel secure.

Catherine came and pulled a chair up right next to him.

“Steve,” said Catherine. “Kono’s going to stay and watch Joan. I want us to put on decent clothes, go pick out rings, and have a nice dinner where we finalize making this permanent like we’ve talked about. Then while your Aunt Deb and my parents are here, I want us to get married on this beach. I want us to adopt Joan and be her mom and dad. This whole thing with Mary made me realize how short life is. I don’t want to wait anymore. I want to grab things before they have a chance to get away.”

“I want those things too. I’d love those things. I think it’s a great plan, but are you sure you don’t want a surprise proposal and more time to plan a wedding. And we won’t exactly get to take a honeymoon right away. And I’m not sure what will happen at work,” said Steve.

“Well, I may have convinced Chin to have a chat with the Governor. I’m going to officially report to Chin and not you. He thinks that makes sense since my background is more research and intelligence, which is more Chin’s area than yours anyway. I’ll be out in the field when you need me of course, but my real strengths are with data.”

“Cath, the Governor knows we are getting married, and I haven’t even officially asked you?  Doesn’t he think this is strange?”

“Well, no, he called me to talk about it and I explained the situation and that I wanted to make sure work was sorted out before I sprung the wedding on you. I suspect this won’t be a huge surprise to anyone who knows us,” answered Catherine.

“Steve, a small wedding here on the beach is my idea of a dream wedding. I’m not that close to my extended family. I have a few friends at Pearl, but no matter what we do, lots of our far flung Navy friends won’t make it. And as far as a honeymoon goes, I suspect my mother would be happy to come out here later and watch Joan with Maile’s help. She’ll be thrilled to have a grandbaby to spoil.”

“You know everyone is going to ask if you are pregnant or if this is Joan right?” asked Steve.

“I really don’t care. Eventually, it will become obvious I’m not. Given that you hired a live-in nanny, I think it’s pretty obvious you want a wife and not just a nanny. And I’m pretty sure all you need to do would be take Joan to the park, and you’d be inundated with mommy candidates that didn’t also require a full time nanny. I don’t care about anyone who thinks that little of us. None of our friends will,” answered Catherine.

“Have you asked your mother about staying for a wedding and eventually watching Joan while we take a honeymoon yet?  Because if you haven’t I’d really like to try and call your father before we do this. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask his permission for anything, but I would like to give a nod to tradition and talk to him. I’m pretty sure it is important to him, so I’m going to let him know that while you can take care of yourself, I love you and will be there to support you in anything.”

“No, I didn’t ask her. She’s just dropped lots of hints. You can call my father, and I’ll go take a shower,” she said to Steve handing him her phone with the number in it.

Steve takes a minute to think about what he is going to say and enters the number into his phone.

“Hello,” says the Admiral.

“Hello Admiral. This is Steve McGarrett calling.”

“Steve, Margaret and I send our condolences. We are planning on attending the memorial service and visiting Catherine.”

“Yes, sir; I really appreciate that sir. That’s kind of why I’m calling. I love your daughter. I’ve loved your daughter for years. We’ve been talking seriously about the future for awhile now. Catherine informed me that we are going ring shopping, then out to dinner so I can ask her formally, and then have a wedding here beach while you are in town. This was a reminder that life is short, and we don’t want to wait anymore. I was planning to ask her formally when things calmed down a bit, but I really like Cath’s plan,” said Steve.

“But you aren’t asking my permission, are you son?” asked the Admiral.

“No, sir, I’m not. As much as I respect you and tradition, I respect Cath’s wishes more. We’ll make big decisions together as a couple, but she doesn’t need anyone’s permission for anything. So before I ask her formally, I wanted to tell you that I love her, I respect her, and I look forward to building a life together where we support each other.”

“Well, you certainly understand my daughter. I look forward to watching you two build a life together. While Catherine can absolutely take care of herself, I’m glad to know you’ll have her back. Please call me Bill and tell Catherine to call her mother sometime to talk wedding details,” said the Admiral.

“Thank you, Bill for everything. I’ll have Catherine call her mother later.”

The two men said their goodbyes and hung up.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Shopping for rings was getting frustrating. Catherine had very specific ideas about what she wanted and didn’t want. Given her desire to avoid anything that could get in the way when working or be too “flashy,” there weren’t very many options, and they all looked “cheap.” Not that Steve felt he had to spend lots of money on an engagement ring, but we wanted something that looked like it was quality. As the both got more frustrated Steve grabbed Catherine’s hand and said “let’s go outside and take a break.”

“Catherine, I think we are going to need to go with something custom. What if we find someone who can work with us and see if we can get basic bands in time for the wedding? I want us to be married, but we have time to get rings don’t we?”

“Steve, I really like that idea. Do you know anyone who might be able to help us?”

“No, but I bet if you called Rachel Edwards, she would have some ideas. Why don’t you call her and I’ll call Danny and tell him, what’s up so he can’t get upset that she knew first?” said Steve.

“OK, said Catherine.

Catherine wandered a little bit away to call Rachel, while Steve dialed Danny.

“Steve, what’s up?” said Danny.

“Catherine and I are going ring shopping. Well, actually we failed at ring shopping, so she’s calling Rachel right now to ask about a custom jeweler. I didn’t want her to find out first. Can I count on you being my best man after Mary’s memorial service? It will be a wedding on the beach in the next few days.”

“Steve, of course I’ll be your best man, but you really need to work on your planning. Catherine is not going to be ready for a wedding in a couple of days. This isn’t like taking over my crime scene. Girls like to plan this kind of thing,” said Danny.

“Well, I’m not marrying a girl. I’m marrying Catherine. Before Mary died, we talked, and I told her I’d get a ring and do a formal proposal soon. But today, she found me out on the lanai, and said decided life was too short to wait, that Kono was watching Joan and that we were going ring shopping, out to dinner, and we’d have the wedding on the beach while everyone was here. It seemed too good a plan to argue with. She even cleared work stuff with Denning. She’s going to formally report to Chin for HR type stuff.”

“Steve, she’s certainly one in a million. I’m very happy for you and I’d honored to be your best man.”

“Thanks Danno. It looks like she wants to talk to you.”

Steve handed his phone to Catherine.

“Hi Danny, I want to ask Grace to be a junior bridesmaid in the wedding. Rachel says it’s ok with her, if it’s ok with you, she’ll make sure Grace can be there. I also invited Rachel and Stan, but it will depend on when we get it scheduled exactly, if they can come,” ask Catherine.

“Catherine, that’s very nice. I’m sure Grace would love that. Thanks for doing that. When are you going to ask her?” said Danny.

“Probably tomorrow. I want to make sure everyone Steve and I need to tell ourselves knows before I ask her,” said Catherine.

“Sounds wonderful. Look, I’ve got to go, HPD is calling,” said Danny hanging up.

“So, did Rachel have a suggestion?” Steve asked as he took his phone back from Catherine.

“Yes, she did. She’s calling to make an introduction, but said we should head over.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Buying the rings went better than Steve could have imagined. Catherine fell in love with a wedding set the artist had designed as an example of the kind of work he did. It was everything Catherine wanted, and it fit her perfectly. It was simple, not flashy, and also unlikely to get in the way when she was working, elegant and well made. Steve got a plain platinum band. He thought it was funny that Catherine insisted on charging his ring on her card even though he was pretty sure they would be managing their finances jointly by the time the bills came, but he didn’t push it.

As they got into the car, Steve said “Where do you want to go to dinner?  We can see where we can get a reservation.”

“Well, we never did make it to Sushi Sasabune,” said Catherine.

Steve made a phone call. When he hung up he said, “we’ve got 6 pm reservations. It’s a little early, but all they had. I was thinking we could go to a little place I know until then and do some planning.”

“I’m amazed they had anything available, so that’s wonderful. I’m happy to go where ever you want,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve led Catherine to bench on the beach that she had always called her “favorite spot on the island.”  Catherine sat down, and Steve knelt in front of her.

“Catherine Rollins, you bowled me over in San Diego. I fell in love with you not long afterward; it just took me way too long to tell you to tell you. Lately, I’ve been trying to tell you and show you every day. I want us to be partners in every possible way. I want to support you in doing the great things I know you are capable of. I want us to be a family. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

With that Steve, pulled the ring box out of his pocket and slide it on Catherine’s outstretched hand while she said “yes, I’d be honored to be your wife.”  She was trying to get more words out when Steve kissed her, and she forgot what she was going to say. After a couple of minutes of what amounted to the most PDA Steve had engaged in as an adult, he pulled away and said “maybe we continue this part after dinner, when the baby is asleep? We need to head to the restaurant for those reservations.”

Back in the truck on the way to the restaurant, Catherine blurted out “I as much as I want to change my name to McGarrett, I think it makes more sense to stay Rollins professionally, but socially I would like to use your name. I’d rather we have all joint accounts and manage our money together. I want to sell my house and talk about renovations to your family home. I want Joan to know about Mary and the adoption, but I want her to call us “Mom and Dad,” not Aunt Catherine and Uncle Steve. I think it will make her more secure growing up. I want to start thinking about a sibling for Joan in the next year, I want one of the base chaplains that knew my grandfather to do the wedding if he can l.”

“Cath, did you think I’d object to any of that?” asked Steve feeling a little confused.

“Not really, I just wasn’t sure how to bring them up. Plus, I was afraid the name thing might disappoint you,” answered Catherine.

“Cath, I’m happy to have the chaplain do the wedding. I like the idea of your being a McGarrett, but it probably is better professionally to use Rollins. I kind of assumed we’d manage money jointly. I want Joan to know her history, but I want her to be secure in that there is no difference between her and any other kids we have. She’s ours. I will say that ideally adding one or two more babies to our lives sounds better than three or four, having spending time with Joan.”

“Thanks Steve. I never really thought you’d want four kids once we spent any time with a baby. I know originally said that I wanted to wait longer; one of the reasons I wanted to wait was to be more settled before I have to spend more time behind a desk, but having Joan just makes we want to get started.”

“Cath, I meant it when I said that I was willing to follow you lead on the timing of the first one. Until the kid arrives, my life changes much less than yours. After the kid arrives, equal partners all the way,” says Steve smiling.

During the dinner, the couple just talked. Not about things related to Mary, Joan, their wedding, their work, or even their actual marriage. They talked about some good times they had over sushi in the past, caught up on what they had heard from friends, gossiped about Kono and Adam, tried to think of someone to introduce Danny to and it was wonderful.

On the way out, Steve said “let’s make sure we make time to have a couple of hours where we don’t talk about work, or the family, or the house. This whole day has been incredible since you appeared on the lanai, let’s do our best to make time for us even if it’s just us on the beach with drinks and a baby monitor.”

“I’d like that,” said Catherine. “I also hope we make lots of time for what I’m hoping comes after we get home.

“Of course,” says Steve smiling. “But we’ve both flown hours to be in bed together and hardly talk, so I’m sure we can keep that part going.”

Catherine kissed him in response.

In his truck, Steve asked Catherine “does Kono know that we went to buy rings and stuff?  Was Danny the last on the team to know?”

“No, she doesn’t. I just told her that I thought we really needed some adult time and a dinner out before the memorial service. I didn’t think we’d end up telling Danny. Also, I kind of suggested that she see if Adam might want to come over and help,” answered Catherine.

“OK, both you and Danny seem to think that Adam is eager to get Kono to settle down and have babies?  Why do you think this? Kono’s kind of young to have kids and Adam doesn’t strike me as all that interested in them,” says Steve.

“Well, Adam has been helping Kono give Grace surfing lessons and he adores Grace. And he apparently spent lots of time at the last family cook out holding one of the new babies. You know he’s lost his family, so I think he wouldn’t mind forming a new one. I also think it would be good for Kono to see that there are men in the world interested in being hands on fathers besides Danny. Her family is pretty traditional about gender roles,” said Catherine.

“And you thought spending time with our recently sick, currently teething daughter would do anything but make them both double up on birth control?  Also, why I am not included in your list of hands on fathers?  And didn’t Chin spend lots of time looking after Kono growing up?” asked Steve.

“Steve, you are very hands on with Joan. But Kono looks at that and sees a single man stepping up because he is a good and honorable man. She hasn’t quite said it, but I think she assumes that if Aunt Deb were healthier Joan would be going to live with her. While Kono and Chin are close, he always said he wasn’t sure he wanted his own kids, having spent so much time raising his cousins. Malia was the same way, at least when Kono was a teenager and the family was bugging Chin and Malia about settling down and having kids. It’s possible I may have miscalculated on the effect of Joan on those two. Although, if you had been looking longingly at babies when I was Kono’s age, I might have been a little more interested. I know you think of Kono as almost like a younger sister, but she’s 25 and Adam is your age. That’s not that young, and neither one of them has a job that requires them to leave on a classified mission on an hour’s notice,” said Catherine.

“Cath, I don’t treat Kono like I think she’s a kid do I?  I have tremendous respect for her. I do think of her kind of like a sister and she is younger, but she’s no kid. I know boarding school, Annapolis, and the SEALS weren’t exactly the most equalitarian environments so maybe I’ve picked up some bad habits, but I hope I’ve never treated any of the women I’ve worked with anything less than my full respect because they were women. Have I done that?” asked Steve.

“Steve, that’s one thing I really liked about you when we first met in San Diego. I was a pretty green JG with no combat experience, and you treated me like a valued colleague. On duty you’ve always treated me like a valued colleague. When we started getting closer off-duty, I could tell that I’d still be a valued colleague even if I shot you down. That was huge. Well that, the killer smile, and sculpted body. You treat Kono like a full team member. And you mostly hide your desire to tell Adam you will kill him if he hurts Kono,” said Catherine with a smile.

“I’m glad. So you thought I had a killer smile and sculpted body?” asks Steve.

“Yes, and I still do. Let’s hope our daughter is asleep, and I can remind you how much I appreciate them,” said Catherine.

“I hope so too. However, I’m not nearly as sculpted as I used to be,” said Steve.

“Please, you are every bit as hot as your were back then. Plus, we both are getting older. My breasts are nearly as perky as they were back then,” said Catherine.

“Cath, there are very few things in this world that I am more familiar with than your breasts, how they look, how they feel. They have not noticeably changed in all the years we’ve been together. Not that it would matter if they had, but trust me, they haven’t,” said Steve grinning.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve was fairly sure that any plans Catherine had to move Adam and Kono closer family life through the joy of a baby were a failure based on the scene when they walked in the door. Kono was on the couch with her leg elevated and an ice pack on what he recognized as her “bad knee.” The tightness in her face and slightly glassy eyes made it clear she was in serious pain. Adam was walking around the room bouncing Joan. Based on experience Steve could tell that Joan was likely to start wailing if he stopped.

“What happened, Kono?” asked Steve as he walked over to the couch. At the same time Catherine took Joan from Adam, and Adam went over to stand by the couch.

“It’s no big deal; I stepped on a rattle and tweaked my knee,” said Kono.

The look on Adam’s face told Steve that he thought it might be a big deal.  Which helped convince Steve it probably was a bigger deal than Kono would admit.

“I’ve seen you show less pain on your face after being thrown from a moving armored truck, so I don’t think you are fine. Will you let me take a look?  I played medic to lots of messed up knees as a SEAL,” said Steve.

“Sure boss,” said Kono.

Steve moved the ice aside and started looking at Kono’s knee which was pretty swollen. He gently prodded around where the knee cap should be, and Kono hissed a little in pain.

Steve announced his verdict saying: “You’ll need an x-ray to know for sure, but I’m pretty sure you dislocated your knee cap Kono, which hurts like crazy, but won’t necessarily require another surgery and heals reasonably fast.”

“So should I take her to the ER Steve?” asked Adam.

“Yes, I think Kono should go to the ER.”

“Kono, we can rig-up a splint and Adam can drive you to the ER or I can call for an ambulance to transport you. I recommend an ambulance. On a stretcher, your knee will be more protected, and they can get you started on the good pain medication. What do you want?” asked Steve.

“Ambulance,” mumbled Kono.

“Good choice,” said Steve starting to dial.

Catherine came downstairs from putting Joan down, walked over to Kono, held out her left hand where her engagement ring sparkled and said “Steve proposed. I’ll need a bridesmaid next week. Are you in?”

“Congratulations!  Yes, of course I’m in. Next week is really soon. But that’s great. Let me see the ring!” said Kono.

Just then Steve got off the phone and said “it’ll be a little while; there was a serious pile-up on the H1, but they should be here soon. Does anyone want anything to drink?  A beer might help, Kono.”

“Sure, boss,” said Kono.

“I’ll take one,” said Catherine. Then two women started talking about the proposal and the wedding.

“I’ll help you carry them Steve,” said Adam.

As the two men stood in the kitchen, Adam said “Congratulations!  I also wanted to let you know I’m sorry about your sister. Also, I appreciate you convincing Kono to go to the ER. She’s been telling me it was nothing serious for a couple of hours now. I’m sure this isn’t how you and Catherine wanted to celebrate your engagement.”

“Thanks,” said Steve handing Adam two bottles of beer with the caps removed. “Cath and I really appreciate you two watching Joan. We’re pretty used to being interrupted. We ended up at a restaurant where we missed our last reservation because Catherine got orders to an aircraft carrier in the Gulf for a couple of months. This is nothing.”

The two couples sat and drank their beers and chatted.

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Catherine was glad that she’d purchased a negligee on a whim awhile ago and hidden it in the back of a drawer. She pulled the tags off and put it on and propped herself up on the pillows in what she hoped was a seductive manner. While she had had a few pieces of nice underwear over the years she’d never bothered with sexy sleepwear, generally she slept naked next to Steve or in something comfortable like PT clothes.

“You look gorgeous Cath,” said Steve. He and joined Catherine on the bed as soon as he stripped down to his boxers. He pulled her close and began to kiss her. Catherine raked her nails down Steve’s back trying not to leave scratches. Very quickly they got lost in each other.

After some very intense lovemaking, Cath’s head was pillowed on Steve’s chest, enjoying the afterglow. She turned to look at him and said “ok, so maybe my mother was right and making a lifetime commitment does make the sex better.”  Steve smiled at her. Then Joan’s wail came through the baby monitor.

“I’ll go,” said Catherine, grabbing Steve’s discarded t-shirt to cover up. “I love our daughter, but I’m beginning to see why there has traditionally been an order to things. Like celebrating the engagement before, you have the baby.”

Catherine got Joan settled pretty quickly. Catherine suspected she was clingy because she was looking for Mary and wondered if she and Steve are doing the right things to help her adjust. She made a mental note to ask about it at Joan’s 9 month check-up, which Mary had scheduled before she died.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Joan’s babbling in the baby monitor woke Catherine. There was a note on Steve’s pillow telling her he’d gone for a swim, but he’d be back in time for her get one before Maile came at 8 am. Catherine sighed and went to get Joan. Motherhood was going to take some getting used to. Maybe they could get a jogging stroller and start running together.

Changing Joan and getting her dressed made Catherine think they should put a picture of Mary and Joan in Joan’s room, so they could point to it and talk about it. She thought that maybe Mary could be Mama, and she could be Mommy or Mom. She knew that Mary and the original adoption should be a simple fact of Joan’s life not some “lesson” introduced when Joan was older.

Just as she was walked out of Joan’s room, Steve came up and hugged them saying “good morning, my two favorite girls.” He took Joan from Catherine’s arms and said “I’ll feed her if you want to get a swim.”

“Yes, thanks!” answered Catherine.

After her swim and shower, Catherine came down stairs and found Steve sitting on the couch while he read “What to Expect the First Year” and kept an eye on Joan as she played on her activity mat.

Steve put down the book and said “Cath; the Governor called to talk about a Homeland Security Conference in DC next month. He wants the two of us to attend since we’ve got the most anti-terrorism experience, so we need to figure that out. When I told him we were getting married this week, he said he doesn’t want to see us in the office for the rest of the week. I invited him and his wife to the wedding. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“My parents are planning to spend next month at Bethesda/Walter Reed. My dad is doing some teaching. My mom would love to watch Joan, and we could take a couple of extra days and make it a family vacation. Maybe the two of us could sneak off to Annapolis overnight,” said Catherine.

“If you are sure they won’t mind,” said Steve.

“Steve, my mom would love it. She’s really excited about this whole grandmother thing. And that was before we are engaged.”

“Catherine, I need to call the Governor back. I forgot that Kono’s probably going to be out a couple of days and confined to the office for a couple more weeks. One of us may need to go in.”

While Steve called the Governor; Catherine’s phone rang, and she stepped out to take the call. Steve filled the Governor in on the fact that Kono was going to be out, and he still insisted that Steve and Catherine take the week unless Chin or Danny called them in. He was very supportive of the idea of Steve and Catherine taking Joan with them to DC and then taking a couple of extra days as vacation. Then Adam called to update Steve on Kono and said she would call later once she was up.

Catherine walked into the room and said “Steve that was the Governor’s wife calling me. She’s offered up all the contacts she’s made doing political events to help pull this wedding off. She also passed on that her daughter who is a sophomore early childhood education major at UH would love to do some babysitting. The conversation was a little odd.”

“But helpful right?” asked Steve.

“Yes, it was helpful, but a woman I met once at that fundraiser just offered to help plan my wedding, so still odd,” answered Catherine

“Adam called about Kono. She’s still sleeping. It was a long night at the ER. She did dislocate her knee cap but she’ll be fine with physical therapy and rest. The doctor wants her to stay home today and tomorrow, she’ll be up and around Wednesday, but it will be a couple weeks or more before she can go into the field,” said Steve.

“That’s great, I’m glad she won’t need surgery again. She’s going to hate being stuck in the office.”

The doorbell rang, and Maile arrived. The three adults sat down in the living room. Joan decided she was tired of her activity mat and crawled over to Steve and started trying to untie his boots, so he picked her up, and she snuggled up against his shoulder.

After a little small talk, Steve said “One thing that has changed since we hired you. Catherine and I got engaged, and we are getting married this week. So this week will be a bit crazy. The Governor has given us both the week off. So we’ll be coming and going a bit trying to arrange everything. Plus, there is the memorial service for Joan’s mother,” said Steve

Joan started to fuss and tried to throw herself out of Steve’s arms, so he set her back down on the floor and she crawled over to Maile, who picked her up and began to cuddle with the little girl.

“I’m not sure we explained Joan’s full history. Joan was adopted by Steve’s sister Mary, who was killed by a drunk driver. We want her to grow up knowing both of those things, but we do plan to raise her as our daughter,” said Catherine.

“Congratulations,” says Maile. “I think your plan for making sure Joan knows her past, but raising her as your daughter makes lots of sense. Can you tell me a little about Joan’s routine?”

“Well, we are pretty new at this, and it’s been a giant roller coaster, so we don’t really have one,” said Steve.

“I know it’s important for her to have one,” said Catherine. “We hope you can help us establish one that makes sense for her age. We know we are going to have to cut back on time at the office. On a day without anything too pressing we go in around 8 and leave around 5. But those have been rare days. We’ll work on that.”

“We’ve talked about trying to stagger that some, taking turns going in early and coming home early,” said. “As you know we are both still in the Navy Reserves, so there is that to factor in too. We are going to work on creating a list of back-up sitters. We do want you to have a life,” said Steve.

“We don’t want to overschedule Joan, but if there are things that you think both of you would enjoy like baby swimming lessons or a mommy and me class, please let us know. We don’t want you to feel stuck here all day with Joan, but we don’t want you to feel like ever single minute of her day needs to be specially planned to be enriching,” said Catherine.

“Well, why I don’t spend some time getting settled with Joan, and we’ll work on a routine? I like your philosophy of how to spend the day. Kono considers you ohana, so I’m sure we will manage to work out everything just fine,” said Maile.

“That sounds great, Maile. We meet with the lawyer today, and we’ll make sure that you have the need permission to make medical decisions for Joan if you can’t reach us. That should be rare. Here is a set of keys to the house. The alarm code is 071374. You have both of our phone numbers. We’ll also get another car seat,” said Steve.

“That sounds fine. We’ll figure everything out as we go along,” said Maile.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

One of the many things that Steve and Catherine needed to take care of was another meeting with the lawyer about Mary’s estate. The lawyer Craig Reynolds had played football with Steve in high school.

"Craig, Catherine and I have gotten engaged since we spoke last. We'd like to adopt Joan, not just be her legal guardians. We also need to make sure the nanny can authorize medical care if needed," said Steve.

"Congratulations!  It will be no problem to adopt to Joan. Given that Mary named you guardian and is deceased, it’s a pretty streamlined process. I’ll draw up the paperwork and get something scheduled in family court. I can also draw up the permission for the nanny to get Joan medical care. You should give one copy to her pediatrician and have another copy for the nanny to have," said Greg, then he placed a call to the paralegal to ask her to get started on the document.

"Mary had a life insurance policy, Steve you were actually the beneficiary, but the intent was that it be used for Joan’s care. She left her interest in the family house to you, Steve. The rest of her assets, which aren’t many, she left to Joan. Joan will also be eligible for Social Security Survivors benefits until she is 18. Plus, I’m pretty sure that the Van Horne kid will be offering a settlement to avoid a wrongful death suit. There used to be lots of assets there, but the kid has blown through most of them. I’ll do some research and see what to expect. Assuming the offer is something reasonable, I suggest you take it. I don’t think you really want to drag this into court. It will be long, drawn out and could get ugly,” said Craig.

“I don’t really want to drag this into court,” said Steve. “Do we want to put the money for Joan in some kind of trust? We don’t really need the money to raise Joan. I guess it would be good to be able to access it for her she ever had extraordinary needs. But we have a paid-off house in a good school district, good jobs, good health insurance, hopefully Joan can use this for college and graduate school if she wants to go. I don’t want her to be able to indiscriminately spend money as a young adult,” said Steve.

“I agree,” said Catherine.

“First of all, any offer from Van Horne that I would consider reasonable should easily cover Joan’s college education. I can help you set-up a trust that is flexible enough to cover any out of the ordinary things she needs, but won’t allow her to go crazy with it in her 20s. You also will probably want to consult a financial advisor that deals with significant assets if you don’t have one. I can make a couple of recommendations,” said Craig.

“Yes, we can use a financial advisor used to significant assets,” said Steve.

“Great, I’ll give you some names. You should also make wills. You’ll want to name a guardian for Joan. You can name one person to raise Joan and one person to handle the money. I assume that you will want what are called “honey dearest wills” where you each leave everything to each other and if you both die in some kind of trust for Joan and any other children you have. You should also consider living wills,” said Craig.

“We’ll need to think about Joan, but the other stuff sounds right. We both have living wills. Should we bring them in?” asked Catherine.

“Yes, that’s great. Why don’t you make an appointment for a month from now? Tracy can give you a folder with what kind of information to bring,” said Craig.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve and Catherine stopped at the government center to get a marriage license. Steve had to go back and get his wallet out of the car, since they couldn’t take his badge as proof of age. Catherine laughed. Steve was less amused that he needed to prove he was over 18.

Then they went to find a picnic table by the beach and worked on planning their wedding. Several hours later with the help of a their phones and tablets, they had spoken to the Chaplin and confirmed a Saturday late morning wedding, invited all their guests, decided on the groomsmen and the bridesmaids, what they would wear, rented chairs and tables, found a photographer, made arrangements to meet a caterer, baker, and a florist that afternoon. Catherine was going to go dress shopping with her mother the next morning.

Steve, Danny, and Chin were going to wear dark suits, white shirts, sandals they got for Chin’s wedding and wedding leis. Catherine knew that Kono and her friend Becky both had the same blue dress which they would wear with sandals (or whatever Kono could walk in) and wedding leis. As a junior bridesmaid, Grace was going to wear something she already owned that Rachel thought was appropriate.

Thanks to Mrs. Denning they found a caterer willing to do an elegant, but informal buffet for their small 50 guest wedding. She also pointed them in the direction of a florist that could make leis. They just had to go meet with the caterer and the florist to confirm their choices.

As they left the florist, which was the last stop, Steve said “I am so lucky. I am marrying an incredible woman, who as the icing on the cake wanted a wedding we could plan in less than a day. Seriously, it’s 3pm. Even Malia, who was pretty laid back, started to drive Chin a little nuts with wedding details.”

“Thank you. What can I say? I’m a decisive and simple girl,” said Catherine.

“Well you are decisive, but I couldn’t call you simple,” said Steve.

“Let’s stop by and visit Kono and then go see how Joan and Maile are getting along,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Catherine walked down to the beach where Steve was sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the ocean. She sat down next to him and said “Joan is down for a nap, and I suggested Maile go to the grocery store and get some of her favorite things.”

“Good, I want her to be comfortable here,” said. Steve.

Catherine sat there in silence listening to the ocean and the occasional snore coming from Joan through the baby monitor. “It’s hitting you again about Mary isn’t it?”

“It is, I wish we could’ve finished getting to know each other again. And I worry about Joan, I know what losing a parent does to a kid. Look at what it did to Mary. Aunt Deb tried, but Mary was only just getting over it,” said Steve.

“I was enjoying getting to know Mary too. I’ll miss her, not like you will, but I’ll miss her. I know your mother’s “death,” was hard on you and Mary, but I suspect it was being sent away and that fact that your father wasn’t very good at keeping touch that did the most damage. Joan is going to grow up with two parents that love her. Hopefully, there will be at least on siblings that she will love but also drives her crazy. I’d love to hear more about you and Mary as kids, if you want to tell me.” said Catherine.

After awhile Steve said “I wasn’t all that excited about having a baby in the house, because as far as I could tell they were just loud and kind of gross. The first time I held her, Mary spit up all over me and started crying, so I figured I was right and thought of her as this mildly annoying thing that lived here. Then when she was a few months older, my mom was teaching me a magic trick, and Mary was in one of those seat things as the audience and she started to smile at me and laugh. For a few weeks, she would only laugh or smile for me, which made me feel really special.”

“You were a smart kid, babies are loud and kind of gross. Newborns aren’t really my favorite. Although, I’d have been over the moon for a little sister, then probably disappointed when she wasn’t like a doll,” said Catherine.

“She was a fierce little kid and stubborn. She wanted reasons for things. When she was still wearing diapers, Mom just let her run around out here in one when she was going to be in the water. At some point when she outgrew diapers, Mom started insisting she wear a swimming suit. So Mom brought some little pink suit and Mary hated it. She kept saying she wanted a “big kid shorts,” which Mom decided meant a two piece. This time she takes Mary shopping. It turns out Mary wanted boardies. Mom bought her a pair from the boys section and thought everything would be fine. When they got home Mom got Mary dressed and put a tank top on her with the boardies. Mary was still not amused. She wanted to wear just boardies. She threw a tantrum and got sent to her room. When Dad came home for dinner, Mary had not let it go, so she asked over dinner why she can’t just wear boardies like I did. Dad told her that big girls have to wear tops. Mary wanted to know why. Mom said, “It’s what people do.” Dad said, “Because we said so.” Mary didn’t like that answer, so she started talking back and got sent to her room again. I wanted to know how things worked, but didn’t push my parents nearly so much on the reasons for things like rules,” said Steve.

“I can see that in both of you. Mary would have found following orders without question to be difficult. I think if things had been different you might have been an engineer or science teacher or something,” said Catherine.

“Obviously, Joan and any other kids we have will have rules, and but I don’t want to be ordering them around like they are mids or a BUD/S class. They should be able to ask questions and disagree respectfully,” said Steve.

“You weren’t really that kind of officer at least in my experience, so I doubt you’ll be that kind of father. I’m glad you aren’t planning on subjecting our eight month old to hell week though. Danny is a good role model. He and Rachel have clearly done something right with Grace,” said Catherine.

“Yeah, she’s a good kid, very caring. Mary could be like that. About six months before Mom “died,” I got chicken pox and was pretty miserable. Mary kept bringing me drinks and decided she was going to read to me. So she read me “Farmer Boy” one of the Little House on the Prairie books, it was really nice. We were so far apart in age that we didn’t do that much stuff together, so it was kind of special,” said Steve.

“It’s really your call, but do you think Danny would raise Joan if something happened to both of us? He’s like a brother to you. My parents would do it, but I’m not sure how fair it would be to Joan. They aren’t exactly young,” said Catherine.

“Cath, it’s up to you too. You are going to be Joan’s mother. I think Danny would do it. He’d certainly be my first choice. He’s a great father to Grace. Let’s ask him when things calm down a bit,” said Steve.

The couple just sat on the beach awhile longer. Eventually, Joan’s babbling came over the baby monitor. Catherine said “I’m going to go get Joan dressed, Dad is going to want to take us some place a that requires us to dress a little more formally than boardies.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Dinner was going well thought Steve. Bill and Margaret Rollins were enjoying Joan, who was on her best behavior. Steve had genuinely liked Catherine’s parents when he had met them before, but he had been a friend, not the husband (or almost husband).

After the appetizers had been cleared, Bill cleared his throat and said “We started a college fund for Catherine when she was born. Then she got an ROTC scholarship to the University of Minnesota. So we didn’t need the money, and we kept adding to it, we planned on using it to pay for Catherine’s wedding and a contribution to a down payment on a house. Then Catherine used her grandparent’s inheritance for a down payment on her place, but we figured there would still be a wedding. It looks like you’ve got the wedding taken care of too. So we’re just going to give you two the money. You can do whatever you want with it. We know you don’t need it. You are both capable adults, but we’d really like to do this for you.”

Bill pushed a sheet of paper with a very large dollar figure on it towards Steve and Catherine.

“Thank you Mom and Dad, this so wonderful, I’m sure we will be able to use this. If nothing else we’ll have a good start on a college fund for our kids,” said Catherine.

“Thank you Bill and Margaret. This is really wonderful. I’m sorry if we took throwing a wedding away from you. I didn’t even think about that,” said Steve.

“Steve, I think you and Catherine are doing what you want and given the circumstances I think it’s wonderful,” said Margaret. “Now Catherine, you said college fund for your children. Do you have something else to tell us?”

“Mom, I’m not pregnant,” said Catherine with a slight huff.

Steve reached over under that table and squeezed her hand and said “we hope that Joan will have at least one brother or sister, relatively close in age, but haven’t exactly settled on the timing.”

At that point Joan decided she was tired of the high chair; Bill plucked her out of the highchair and began entertaining his granddaughter.

Margaret said “Cat, I was just teasing you. I’m going to love being Joan’s grandma, and I’d love more grandkids, but what I want most is for you two to have the family you want. I always wanted to give you a sibling, but it never happened.”

The family had a pleasant meal, but it was clear that Bill and Margaret were exhausted. They made plans for the next day, and Bill and Margaret headed back to their hotel.

As Steve was buckling Joan into her car seat, Catherine said, “I got a text from Kono, she wants us to stop by for a little while. I think she’s bored.”

“Do we have time before Joan needs to be in bed? If we do, I think that would be great,” said Steve.

“I think we do. We can’t stay long, but it would be nice to stop by,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

It turned out that Kono had the team and Adam come over for a little informal engagement party. Steve and Catherine were touched. At some point, Catherine and Kono went off to the bedroom to figure out what shoes Kono could wear with a knee brace. The men were sitting in the living room drinking beers.

“So Steve, Kono and Becky want to do dinner and some kind of spa thing with Catherine, the moms, and Aunt Deb, I think that means we need to do something. Maybe steaks on the grill and cards are your place, so you can keep an eye on Joan, we’ll set-up and clean-up. Maybe we can invite Catherine’s dad and anyone else you want?” asked Danny.

“I’ll check with Cath, but thanks, I think that sounds good. But Danno, no strippers or anything,” said Steve.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Mr. I Am Allergic to Fun, who is totally oblivious to all women who are not Catherine,” said Danny.

“Danny, I’m not allergic to fun. You’d freak the hell out if Grace took a job as a stripper when she grew up. Why is it ok for someone else’s daughter? With my future father-in-law present? Really? Also, why is being oblivious to women who are not Catherine a bad thing?” said Steve.

“He’s got you there, Danny,” said Chin.

“Adam, back me up,” asked Danny.

“I’m with Steve and Chin. And not just because Kono could easily kick my ass,” said Adam.

Chin and Steve nodded at Adam approvingly. Danny got up to grab another beer in the kitchen. While Danny was gone, Steve said, “We need to find Danny a girlfriend.” Chin and Adam laughed.

Catherine came in carrying a fussy Joan, followed by Kono hobbling with the brace. “I think we need to get this tired little girl home,” said Catherine.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve came down from putting Joan to bed and found Catherine in the kitchen taking some Advil.

“Cath, what’s wrong?

“My back is bothering me a little. I think carrying around 18 pounds of baby on my hip is getting me, especially getting her in and out of the car seat in the truck. Plus, I’m a little crampy.”

“Let’s go up to bed, I’ll give you a massage and we can talk about tomorrow and stuff,” said Steve.

“Thanks, Steve. You know it’s going to be just a massage right?” said Catherine.

“Yeah, I picked that up from crampy. I just want to make you feel better, and we can talk in bed,” said Steve.

Pretty soon they were up in the bedroom and Steve was straddling Catherine’s legs just below her butt working on her lower back. “Cath, you’ve had some serious knots in your shoulders but your lower back is worse.”

Catherine just moaned in response.

“Seriously, Cath, I think we need to start using the stroller more and get one of those backpacks. We also probably need to rethink the car situation. I think we should trade in the truck and sell the Mercury. We keep the Stingray. We buy a Traverse crossover, which should be much easier to get Joan in and out of for the main family car. If we have another baby, it shouldn’t be bad to get two kids in and out of. It has space to carry stuff, and we can also have two car seats and still carry Grace or pick your parents up at the airport. Then maybe something like a Tahoe or Suburban. Either one would make a decent replacement for the truck and still be ok with car seats,” said Steve.

“I’d agree to anything if you just keep this massage up. But a Traverse and Suburban sounds good. At least it’s not a minivan. I’m not driving a minivan. But why keep the Stingray and not the Mercury? I love the Stingray, but it’s not a family heirloom. Plus, it’s worth more,” said Catherine

“I’m glad you are enjoying this. There will be no minivans. I will play tea party; I will go to ballet recitals, terrible musical and theatrical performances by small children; I will get spit up on and change diapers. I will do those things gladly, but I will not drive a minivan. I will also not wear pleated front-khakis. I think we should keep the Stingray because as much as I enjoyed rebuilding Mercury, the Stingray drives better. Date night with my sexy wife in the Stingray seems more fun,” said Steve.

Catherine said “Steve, you’re so good at this. I feel so much better. If you want to keep the Stingray, we can keep the Stingray. I’ll even let you drive it occasionally. I promise to never buy you pleated front khakis.”

Steve finished the massage and kissed Catherine on the cheek.

“Thanks for being cool with taking the money from my parents. I didn’t know about it, or I would have mentioned it,” said Catherine.

“Your father was so proud of you, when he talked about you not needing it for college or to buy you place or to have the wedding you wanted. Your parents clearly know we can take care ourselves, but saved to help you get somewhere. Why would I deny them the chance to do that? Besides, I’ve been pricing new cars,” said Steve with a grin.

“Well, if you want to talk about cars, I want to talk about houses. I think we could get a really good price for my place and use that money to do some work on this house. I love this house, but we could really use a guest room, a bedroom for another child, office space we can work in without worrying that the kids might stumble over pictures of dead people, and the kitchen could use some upgrading,” said Catherine.

“I think that would be great and we should probably do some redecorating. Nothing has really changed here since Mary was a baby. But can we afford that even with the proceeds of your place and the money from your parents?” asked Steve.

“Well, I haven’t priced out the renovations, but I have lots of equity in my house. We also might want to take home equity loan. Not having to make mortgage payments would free up a chunk of my budget so the payments wouldn’t be a problem and we could write off the interest,” said Catherine.

“Sounds good. When things calm down, we’ll put your house on the market and talk to an architect. If we can afford it maybe, we want to think about do doing some stuff outside. Maybe add an outdoor shower. Move the laundry room towards the back, fence off the lanai or something to keep little kids contained. That kind of stuff,” said Steve.

“I like the idea. So, I’m fading quickly. Can we talk about plans for tomorrow?” asked Catherine.

“Yeah. You are doing dress shopping with your mom in the morning, then we have a meeting with Chaplin Carlson at 12:30, I’m picking Mom and Aunt Deb at the airport at 4, and we have dinner at DeMarco’s at 6 right?” asked Steve.

“Yeah, that’s it. I guess we can figure out the logistics tomorrow. I’d say Joan and I would meet you at DeMarco’s but I can’t take her in the Stingray,” said Catherine.

“Sure, Catherine. We need to move car shopping to the top of the “to do” list after the wedding. Also, Danny mentioned that you were doing some kind of girl’s night on Friday. So he was thinking that they guys could grill out and play cards. He and Chin promised to help clean up and set-up. I said I’d talk to you. I made Danny promise no strippers. Adam and Chin agreed.”

“Sounds good Steve; I can’t say I love the idea of strippers because I don’t, but I’m not going to “forbid” that you have strippers.”

“Cath, that’s not why I said ‘no strippers. I don’t want one. There is only one woman I’m interested in getting naked and then only in private, and she’s in my bed right now. And we have a daughter who will be in the house, and possibly her nanny if she doesn’t have plans. I’m pretty sure that’s textbook sexual harassment. And I don’t want that kind of life for Joan, so why should I encourage it for anyone’s daughter? Plus, the links to human trafficking are too awful to ignore. I’m not going to lie and say I’ve never seen strippers; that was pretty common in BUD/S, but it’s been a long time.”

“And that Steven John McGarrett represents one of the many things I love about you, why I want to be your wife and raise children with you. You are concerned about what is right, you are kind; you are honorable, and you are thoughtful,” said Catherine as she rolled over, draped herself across Steve and began kissing and caressing him.

“Catherine, not that I’m not enjoying this, because it’s becoming very obvious that I am, but I thought you said we couldn’t do stuff tonight and that you were tired.”

“I didn’t feel up to it earlier, but you made me feel better and gave me a second wind. And well, some things might be a little messy, but there are plenty of other things we can do. Plus Commander, isn’t adapt and overcome the SEAL motto?”

“Well, Lieutenant as long as you are clear that I don’t expect this, I’m happy to adapt and overcome.”

“Crystal clear, Commander. Now shut up and kiss me.”

Never say that Steve McGarrett did not follow orders or live up to the SEAL motto.


	5. Chapter 5

Standing in the bedroom doorway, Steve told Catherine that if she would start breakfast while he was swimming, he would clean up while she swam.  Just then Maile walked past clearly damp from a swim and said, “I’m up.  Why don’t I put coffee on while you two swim together?”

Steve and Catherine jumped at the chance to swim together and were out the door quickly.  Heading to the water, Catherine said, “we should really get a jogging stroller; otherwise chances to work out are going to be few and far between.”

“We can, I was also thinking a back pack would be good for jogging.  Joan is still lighter than all my gear if I’m in the field as a SEAL so it could be good training for me.  Although it might be lots of bouncing for her,” said Steve.

“That could work,” said Catherine nodding.

They didn’t really swim “together” because Steve swam faster than Catherine, but it was nice to be out in the water at the same time.  Being able to go for a swim with minimal effort was one of Steve’s favorite things about the home he had grown up in.

As Catherine and Steve headed back to the house, Catherine said “we should probably figure out a schedule with Maile for the morning.  I didn’t expect her to be up before us.”

“Sure.  How do you feel about pancakes for breakfast?” asked Steve.

“I never turn down pancakes,” said Catherine.

They walked into the house and found the table set including a bowl of fresh fruit on the table. Then Maile walked into the dining room carrying Joan and a tray of pancakes.

“I felt like pancakes.  I hope you like them,” said Maile.

“I love pancakes; I was just going to make some, but you don’t have to cook for us,” said Steve.

“I know, I like to cook and bake,” Maile

“Well, you are welcome to use the kitchen whenever,” said Catherine.

“Thanks.  I was thinking I could keep an ear out for Joan in the morning if you two want to swim together or something,” said Maile.

“That would be great.  By the way, I wanted to let you know that some of the guys are coming over to play cards Friday night, but I’ll still be watching Joan so you can go out or whatever,” said Steve.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

The meeting with Chaplin Carlson was pretty painless, thought Steve.  They talked about Catherine’s late grandfather, about how they met, about Joan and the Chaplin expressed his condolences about Mary.  He explained the counseling he liked to do and that it focused on making sure the couple communicated about important issues and that they didn’t have to talk about religious or spiritual beliefs.  He did recommend that the couple talk about their beliefs, and he was happy to help them with that.  He suggested Catherine and Steve do some of that after they were married.  He wasn’t going to make them wait given the circumstances.

Steve realized that he and Catherine had never really talked about their beliefs. Steve knew Catherine still identified as Protestant and went to church a handful of times a year.  His dog tags read Catholic, but even growing up they had been mainly Christmas and Easter types, although he had done everything up through confirmation. He hadn’t thought about what he believed or didn’t believe in many years.  He knew Mary actively rejected the idea of a higher power so there would be no prayers at her memorial service.  He knew he wouldn’t go so far as to reject the idea of God.

“We’ll we’ve got 3 hours, Steve, do you want to go test drive some cars?” asked Catherine.

“Yeah, that sounds good.  Let’s stop by the house, drop off your car, and pick up Joan, so we can head straight to the airport,” said Steve.

“Let’s just go straight there.  Joan is probably taking a nap right now,” said Catherine.

“OK, I’ll meet you at the dealership,” said Steve.

Two and a half hours later, Catherine and Steve had traded in the Silverado and were the owners of a blue 2014 Chevy Traverse and had ordered a black 2014 Chevy Suburban.  Catherine took the Stingray home and Steve headed to the airport in the Traverse.

Steve was glad that Doris had decided to meet Deb in LA for the flight to the Honolulu.  He did not want to have to referee their first meeting since Doris’s “death.”  The two women had not been close before the incident, and Deb had been furious when she found out what happened.  He saw the two women walking towards him, and it looked like they had some kind of truce.

“Oh Steve,” said Deb, throwing her arms around the tall man.  Steve returned the hug saying “hi, Aunt Deb, I’m so glad to see you again.  I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Steve,” said Doris hugging her son.  Steve stiffened but returned the hug. “I’m glad you were able to come, Doris.  Let’s get the luggage and get out of here,” said Steve.

Doris felt a small stab of pain when she saw that her son was clearly more comfortable with his aunt than her.  Not for the first time she wondered if she had made a good decision in leaving her family.

Steve helped the women gather the luggage and load it in the car.

“Wow, I know the Navy taught you to be neat Steve, but this car is immaculate,” said Deb.

“It should be.  Catherine and I just bought it.  I drove it straight off the lot right here.  We needed something that worked better with kids.”

“When did you and Catherine become a “we” that buys a family car together? And kids?  Is she pregnant?” asked Doris.

“Earlier in the week.  Yes, kids as in Joan and one or two more.  No, she’s not pregnant yet.  Why does everyone keep asking that?  I hope you can stay through Saturday; Catherine and I are getting married, on the beach at home that morning,” said Steve.

“Of course I can stay, Steve, I wouldn’t miss it for anything.  I suspect people keep asking you that because at Thanksgiving you wouldn’t use the words ‘girlfriend’ or ‘boyfriend,’ so getting married seems sudden, and you wouldn’t let a child of yours grow up without a father.  But I thought you two had a future together.  I’m very excited for you,” said Deb.

“You are right, I wouldn’t let a child of mine grow up without a father if I could avoid it.  But Cath and I aren’t teenagers, not getting her pregnant until we are ready isn’t rocket science,” said Steve.

“Catherine is a lovely woman, and I’m so happy for you.  I’d love to stay.  You both were just so reluctant to admit you were serious; I thought maybe a baby pushed along.  I’m sorry. But things don’t always happen the way you plan.” said Doris.

“We’ve been serious for a long time, but not very good at telling anyone.  Everything with Mary reminded us life is short.  Cath knew I was planning to ask her, I just needed to buy a ring and stuff, but she presented me with this plan.  I thought it was a good one.  We want to make sure Joan knows about Mary and the adoption, but we want to raise her as our daughter.  We are thinking about trying for a sister or brother for Joan in the next year or so, but I suspect that depends on how well we do with Joan,” said Steve.

“Well, I’m so glad you are doing this Steve.  I so glad I get to see this,” said Deb.

“Thanks.  Listen, I’m sorry we don’t have room at the house, but between Joan and the nanny, it’s pretty crazy.  We are actually talking about adding on.  Catherine owns a house that we are going to sell and do some remodeling on our house,” said Steve.

“It’s not problem Steve; I’m going to stay with Mick,” said Doris.

“I’m going to enjoy the Hilton.  What’s the plan?” asked Aunt Deb.

“Well, we need to go by the house to get Catherine and Joan.  Cath’s car doesn’t have room for a car seat.  Then we are having dinner at DeMarco’s.  Tomorrow morning is Mary’s service.  Then we have sandwiches and stuff at the house.  Thursday is free.  Friday evening Catherine would like you to join her, her mom and some friends of some kind of spa thing.  I’m playing cards with the guys at home.  Saturday morning is the wedding, then lunch in the yard again.  Then I’m taking Catherine away to a bed and breakfast.  Monday morning we go back to work,” said Steve.

“Who is watching the baby?” asked Deb.

“Probably Maile, the nanny, but I guess we need to arrange that,” said Steve.

“Do you think I could watch Joan?’ asked Aunt Deb?

“That would be great Aunt Deb,” said Steve.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Dinner at DeMarco’s was nice, thought Steve as he drove home after dropping Aunt Deb off.  It was the people he thought of as immediate family, Danny, Chin, Kono, Catherine, his in-laws, Aunt Deb, Doris, Joan and Maile too, who took Joan home to bed.  Aunt Deb and Doris told stories about when Mary and he were kids, his in-laws told some about Catherine that he had never heard, and the team told stories on both of them.  Doris said that Steve surprised them by showing up earlier than they planned; his arrival was made know when Doris threw up and then fainted in pre-Cana classes, and Mary surprised them by being much later than planned.  Doris had several miscarriages between them.  He was pretty sure that was his response to his comments in the car, and it was nice to hear.  Someday maybe he’ll ask why they lied about the wedding date.

Since Catherine’s car wasn’t in the driveway, Steve figured he had beaten her home.  The house was quiet and dark when he walked it.  He went upstairs and checked on Joan.  Maile’s door was cracked open, and the light was on, so he knocked and entered when invited.

“Thanks for bringing Joan home.  Everyone wanted to see her, but it would have been too late a night for her.  Did she go down ok?” said Steve

“She didn’t even wake up when I took her out of the car seat.  I enjoyed getting to meet you family, Commander,” said Maile.

“It’s Steve, Maile.  I’m glad you enjoyed it.  I’ll take the baby monitor; you are very much off duty for the day,” said Steve.

“Thanks, Steve,” said Maile.

Settling into bed, Steve decided to read a little more on child development before he went to sleep. He felt like it was helping him get a handle on being a father.  He had read about a page when he heard Catherine open the door, set the alarm and come up the stairs.

“Hey Sailor, everyone down for the night?” asked Catherine as she began to get dressed for bed.

“Yep, Joan didn’t even wake up when taken out of the car seat.  You were gone awhile.  I’m guessing Doris wanted to talk?” asked Steve.

“She just wanted to welcome me to the family, ask some questions about Mary and Joan, tell me a little about you as a boy.  Don’t worry, she wasn’t prying into our life,” answered Catherine.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Steve.  “I trust you to handle her.”

Catherine brushed her teeth and then slid into bed next to Steve.  She picked up her own book and read for a bit.  She put down her book when Steve put down his.  “Steve, I know you are very good at putting your emotions on the back burner, and I don’t want to push you to talk, but I hope you take the time to grieve Mary.  We’ve got happy stuff going on too, but I don’t expect this time not to be bittersweet.”

“Thanks Catherine.  I know, believe me.  It is bitter sweet, but it’s not even that I don’t want to talk about it, it’s just that I have nothing to say beyond the obvious that I hate that she is dead and it makes me sad.  You are on the top of the list of people to talk to if I come up with something to say.”

Steve leaned over and kissed Catherine, and both settled in and went to sleep.

Steve woke up early even for him and decided to go for a long swim.  It would help him clear his head before things get busy.  It was going to be a long day.

Swimming in the ocean was cathartic for Steve.  He did some of his grieving for Mary out in the ocean.  When he got back to shore, he felt ready to face the day.

The house was still quiet when he got back in.  Then he heard Joan start to coo to herself after his shower as he was about to head downstairs after getting a shower, so he detoured by her room. “Good morning Joan,” said Steve picking the little girl up out of her crib.  “I bet you need a clean diaper,” he said while laying the little girl on the changing table.  He kept talking to her as he changed her “We are going to say goodbye to Mama today, but don’t worry Mom and Dad are on the job.  We love you so much.  I know we are going to do things you don’t like, but they will be for your own good.  I’m going to tell you this a few million more times, but there will never ever be anything you can’t tell your Mom or me.  But do me a favor, could you please wait until you 15 or 16 before you want to date?  I’m not sure I can handle boys.  Of course, your Mom and I would be just fine if you like girls.  It’s just statistically you are more likely to like boys.” 

Just as Steve finished getting Joan dressed, Catherine came into the room holding the baby monitor.  Steve stood there looking at her trying to figure out what to say.  Joan squealed and reached for Catherine.  Catherine took Joan in her arms and said “did you have a good talk with your Daddy?  I think you did.  He’s absolutely right.  We love you so much.  I promise I’ll try to keep your Daddy from going nuts when you want to date.”

A few hours later a small group is gathered on the beach by the water.  They take turns sharing memories about Mary.  There is even a little laughter.  When everyone who wanted to speak had spoken, Steve came to the front, holding an urn of ashes and spoke.

“Like most siblings Mary and I were not always the best of friends.  One thing I liked about having her back in Hawaii was getting to know her again as an adult.  Mary was pretty clear that she rejected a higher power, but she loved the ocean, so I think it’s fitting that we scatter her ashes here.” 

Steve kicked off his shoes and waded into the water a bit and scattered the ashes.  

“Aloha Mary,” said Steve.

“Aloha Mary,” said everyone else.

Steve sort of floated through the funeral lunch his friends organized.  It’s was very thoughtful.  At some point, people started to leave, and the food got put away.  Mick took Doris home with him and Chin drove Deb back to the hotel.

Danny came up to Steve and said “we are going to get this place ready for the wedding tomorrow.  You and Catherine are going to go off and spend some time decompressing.  Since you Steven are incapable of decompressing like a normal human, we thought you would like hiking to see the ancient stone graffiti.  Since you are a danger magnet you will take a sat phone, but we don’t expect to hear from you until dinner time.”

“Thanks, Danny.  I think that will be just the thing,” said Steve.

“Uncle Steve, I’m so sorry about Aunt Mary,” said Grace.  “Can I give you a hug?”

Steve folded down and let Grace hug him saying “Thanks Gracie.”

After everyone had left, Catherine came over to Steve and said “you look wiped out sailor, let’s take a nap.”

Steve was shocked to find himself agreeing is with Catherine. When he woke up a couple of hours later, he saw Catherine looking at him.

“Hi handsome,” said Catherine.

“Hi beautiful,” said Steve as he pulled Catherine to him.  He started to kiss her and murmured “Help me feel alive, Cath.”

After making love, they lay together and Steve asked “were the petroglyphs your idea?”

“Actually, Danny suggested them.  He thought we could use the time together to decompress.  He knows you pretty well,” said Catherine.

“Yeah, he does.  He’s like a brother.  A brother that I really think could use a girlfriend.  He’s getting cynical about women.  What do you think about Danny and Becky?” asked Steve.

“I think it could work, but I think they’d never let us set them up,” answered Catherine.

“Not set them up; just invite them both over or something and let them do the rest,” said Steve.

“Sure.  Now I am getting hungry and would like to take a shower.  I’m not quite ready to face Maile with bed head and smelling of sex,” said Catherine.

A little while later, a freshly showered Steve and Catherine came downstairs to find Maile putting together several plates of food, while Joan gnawed on banana bits. 

“I thought you might be ready for dinner.  Joan and I are.”

“Sound great,” said Catherine as she helped Maile finish up.

“Cath, Maile, I’m going to have a beer.  Do either of you want one?” asked Steve.

“Yes,” said Catherine.

“Um you know I’m only 20, Steve, right?” said Maile.

“I forgot that.  I’d say it doesn’t really matter, but I am a cop, so I probably shouldn’t condone underage drinking,” said Steve.

“I’ll have a Fresca,” said Maile grabbing one out of the fridge.

Three chatted over dinner.  Steve thought it felt like a family dinner. Not that he felt even remotely close to old enough to have a 20 year old daughter, although it was technically possible.. Danny teased him for days about the fact that new seemed more disturbed by being “dad” to one of the sorority girls than part of a couple with Danny.

After dinner, Catherine went to put Joan to bed.  She suggested Maile pick out a movie on Netflix and Steve do the dishes.  Maile suggested House of Cards, which Steve thought was a good idea and helped him clear the table.

“So my Aunt Deb wants to spend time with Joan on Saturday and Sunday while Catherine and I are having a brief honeymoon.  She’s going to stay here.  I was wondering if you were planning on being around Saturday and Sunday overnight?  Aunt Deb is sick, and I’m not sure she’ll wake up if Joan does so emergency back-up would be nice.  But if you have plans we’ll figure something else out,” said Steve.

“Of course, where else would I be?  I live here.” asked Maile.

“Spending the night at your mom’s place, with friends, or out on a date,” said Steve.

“That’s pretty unlikely to happen,” said Maile.

“That’s fine.  But we don’t expect you home on weekend nights unless we’ve made other arrangements.  However, not to sound like your dad, but if you do decide to stay out could you text Catherine or me?  It doesn’t matter how late.  It’s probably too much time being a cop, but I’d feel better know you are out having fun and not stranded somewhere,” said Steve.

“Sure, Steve, but it’s really not likely to happen,” answered Maile.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Thursday, Steve and Catherine came home from their day out to find the house had been cleaned from top to bottom, Doris and Margaret cooking in the kitchen, and a huge pile of boxes in the living room.

“Mom, what’s with all these boxes?” asked Catherine.

“Well, they are mostly addressed to Mr. and Mrs. McGarrett, so I assume they are wedding presents.  Some of them are addressed to Joan McGarrett, so I assume they are baby presents,” answered Margaret.

“Why don’t we open them and then we can at least get rid of the boxes?” asked Steve.

So Catherine and Steve sat down and began to open the presents.  Pretty soon they were surrounded by piles of stuff.

“Well, we don’t have to buy another car seat, jogging stroller, or back pack,” said Steve.  “But what I don’t understand is why your family sent us all this stuff for Joan?”

“It’s instead of a baby shower because if you and Catherine had a baby or adopted a baby there would have been a shower.  I tried to explain that you got Joan with all her stuff and didn’t really need anything, but people really wanted to send something, so I tried to push them to stuff Catherine had mention wanting to get.  I also tried to explain that I didn’t think Catherine was changing her name, but that didn’t sink in,” answered Margaret.

“That’s very generous,” said Steve.

“I don’t mind being a McGarrett socially, we just thought it would be better professionally, if I didn’t change my name,” added Catherine.

“I know the wedding presents probably aren’t really you style, and I tried to tell people that you had two houses of stuff, but people really wanted to send things, so I guess they did.  I’m pretty sure you can return the Bed, Bath, and Beyond stuff and Macy’s stuff easily.  You might just get store credit, but I’m sure can find things you can want and use over time,” said Margaret.

“You know it might be worth your time to take an hour tomorrow and register somewhere like Crate and Barrel.  Catherine, I can’t imagine that my 1970s everyday dishes are really your style.  They aren’t even my style anymore,” said Doris.

“I’ll do whatever you want, Cath, I don’t really have strong opinions about house stuff.  I will start writing thank you notes though,” said Steve.

“Doris, you raised him well,” said Margaret.

“It wasn’t me.  I’m guessing Annapolis turned him into an officer and gentleman,” said Doris.

Steve blushed and stammered “I read it somewhere once that it’s a good way to become part of your new family.  These things are mostly from people who knew Catherine, so I thought it would be good,” said Steve.

“That’s so sweet, Honey!  I think we should take some time to register for some stuff.  I think we might be able to do it online.  Want to help me after dinner Mom and Doris?” said Catherine.

“Catherine, Steve, my sister is just called to say she’s in town from Maui for the evening, and she wants to have dinner.  Is that ok? Do you need me?” asked Maile

“Go, have fun, Maile,” said Catherine.

Steve and Catherine had a quiet dinner with Joan and their mothers.  While they were eating, Margaret said “I really like Maile.  She’s great with Joan and a sweet girl.”

“I agree,” said Doris.  “She’s a very responsible, but innocent 20 year old.”

“I think she had to take on lots of responsibility kind of young.  Her sister is a pro-surfer, which is how Kono knows her.  Kono actually likes Maile more than her sister. I get the feeling that the step-father can be a piece of work.  Kono thought Maile would be really good for us, but she told me she thought we’d be good for her, treat her like part of the family and be supportive.  I meant to tell you this Steve, but things have been a little nuts.” said Catherine.

“That’s fine Cath.  I guess that explains why she acted like it was a little nuts when I asked her to text one of us if she decided not come home some weekend night because I’d feel better if I knew she was out having fun and not stranded.  And by stranded I meant dead.  I’ve spent too much time having the roommates of young women tell me they just assumed she was out with friends.”

“Steve also offered our under-aged Nanny beer the other day.  She reminded him that he was a cop,” said Catherine.

“Hey, I forgot how young she was.  Besides, I find it a little strange that we can give her the authority to make emergency medical decisions for our daughter but that having a beer with Cath and me is out of the question,” said Steve.

“Well, I think we know which SEAL team leader ignored under aged drinking on his team,” said Catherine.

“Hey, I never knowingly let men under my command violate the laws of this country,” said Steve.

“I think that’s code for they did their drinking off base in countries with a lower drinking age when he had men under 21 on his team,” said Catherine.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” said Steve.

The women just laughed at him.

Later that evening, Steve was writing thank you notes.  At the same time, Catherine and the mothers were looking at Crate and Barrel catalogs before starting an online registry.  Joan was playing on her activity mat.

Just then Maile walked in.

“Hi Maile, how was dinner?  Want to help me pick out wedding presents?” asked Catherine.

“Dinner was nice; it was good to see my sister.  Are you sure you want my help?  Shouldn’t you and Steve be doing that?” asked Maile.

“Maile, Catherine does not want me to help pick out dishes, kitchen stuff or anything decorative.  I’ll look at the list before she hits send.  I’ll put Joan to bed and let you ladies pick out stuff for other people to buy us,” said Steve.

He scooped up his daughter and started tickling her as he carried her up to bed.  As Steve started up the stairs carrying Joan he said, “I know some people are going to insist on buying us stuff no matter what, but maybe we could suggest that people who really feel like that need to do something donate to the Navy-Marine Corp Relief Fund or some other charity?” asked Steve.

“Of course,” said Catherine.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This is the final chapter. Thanks for all the support. I’d like to revisit the universe I’ve created, but every time I say that something happens. I may try some stand alone, but interconnected one shots.

Danny and Chin had finished setting up for Steve’s bachelor party.  They had the steaks marinating; the sides made, dessert, beer, and munchy stuff for cards.  The guys were hanging out waiting for the other guests when Danny said “why does it look like a department store exploded in your front hallway?”

“Apparently, Catherine’s extended family felt compelled to send us wedding gifts and baby gifts.  The baby gifts were nice, but most of the wedding gifts are not stuff she likes, so she’s going to return them.  We had to register for stuff last night to stave off more of this stuff.  If anyone asks you guys what we want for wedding gifts, please tell them we don’t need anything.  We have this house full of stuff, plus Catherine’s place.  If they insist maybe suggest a gift to a charity like the Navy-Marine Relief Fund or one of the conservation funds or something,” said Steve.

“Steve, you just have to accept that people are going to buy you stuff.  Malia and I tried to avoid it, but it didn’t work.  Although, I have to say that restaurant gift cards you guys bought us were great.  It made for some nice nights out.  So where did you register?” said Chin.

“Crate and Barrel.  Doris, Margaret and Maile helped Catherine.  It’s fine stuff, but we really don’t need it,” said Steve.

“Wait, Steve, you didn’t participate in registering for presents and you didn’t sleep on the couch last night?” asked Danny.

“No, I wrote the thank you notes for the stuff we already got.  Plus, Cath is cool.  She doesn’t confuse my thoughts on wedding gifts with my thoughts on our home or our marriage,” said Steve.

“You have no idea how lucky you are, Steven,” said Danny.

“Oh, believe me, I do,” said Steve.

Steve’s phone rang.  He answered “McGarrett.”

“Steve, it’s Duke.  Maile Mossman is your nanny right?”

“Yes, she is,” answered Steve.

“Well, we just answered a domestic disturbance call at her mother’s house and it’s not the first.  She got in between her mother and her stepfather trying to protect her mother, she got knocked to the floor.  I think she has a mild concussion and will need some stitches.  The paramedics are going to take her to Hawaii Medical Center.  I think it would be good if you went to sit with her.  We’ve arrested the step-father, but her mother is making noise that it is just an accident.  She’s also going to get checked out too, but I’m afraid she is going to talk Maile out of cooperating.”

“Thanks, Duke.  I’m on my way,” said Steve hanging up.

“Guys that was Duke.  Maile is headed to the ER at Hawaii Medical Center.  She got hurt trying to break up a fight between her mom and her stepfather.  They’ve arrested the stepfather, but Duke thinks her mother is going to talk her out of cooperating.  The mother is already making noise that was an accident.  I’m going to go sit with her and bring her home.  Hopefully, I can convince her to cooperate.  Can you guys watch Joan and start the party?  Joan should be down for the night. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Of course Steve,” said Chin.

“Go take care of Maile, we’ve got things here,” said Danny.

“Thanks guys,” said Steve grabbing his badge and heading out the door.

Steve was fuming while he drove.  He knew domestic violence was complicated, but he couldn’t believe Maile’s mother wasn’t going to stand up for her.  He quickly made it to the ER and found Maile sitting in a curtained cubicle.

“Steve, what are you doing here?” asked Maile

“HPD knew you were our nanny, so I got a call.  I wanted to make sure you are ok and take you home,” said Steve.

“You didn’t need to do that.  I’m fine.  They glued the cut so it won’t scar, and I’m waiting to find about the CT scan.  They think I have a mild concussion.  It was just an accident,” said Maile.

“Maile, a concussion is a big deal and it wasn’t an accident.  I know it is not the first time the police have responded there.  When they discharge you, let me take you home.  Chin or Danny can take your statement.  I know it’s hard, but it might help convince your mother how wrong things are,” said Steve.

“You are right, but what if my mother won’t talk to me anymore?  She was so mad at me.  She says I set my stepfather off,” said Maile with a quivering lip.

“I don’t know, but you didn’t do anything wrong.  You don’t deserve this.  It’s not safe for you to go there.  Your mom is welcome at our houseand if she doesn’t want you to be safe maybe you need some space from her?  You’ve got Kono, Catherine, and I.  You aren’t going to be alone. Will you try?” asked Steve.

“I’ll try, Steve,” said Maile.

Just then the doctor came in.  “Well, Ms Mossman, you have a moderate concussion.  Someone will need to keep an eye on your for awhile.  If you have someone responsible to stay with you, we will release you soon.”

“Maile will stay with my wife and I.  I’m a trained Navy field medic and my father-in-law is visiting, he’s a Navy doctor. Are we responsible enough?” asked Steve somewhat sarcastically.

“I’m sorry Commander McGarrett,” said the doctor “I thought you were here in a law enforcement capacity not a personal one.  You certainly are responsible enough.  Maile a nurse will be in soon with your discharge instructions.  You can put your clothes back on.”

“I’m going to go check on your mother,” says Steve.

As Steve waited to find out where Maile’s mother was he tried to think about what he would say.  He was very surprised to find out that she had already been discharged and hadn’t come to check on her daughter.  He wasn’t sure what to do with that bit of information, so he decided to call Catherine.

After Steve talked Catherine out of abandoning her evening, they talked through what to tell Maile.  They decided just to be honest with Maile and tell her mom had left, and they weren’t sure where she went.  Hopefully, her mother would make contact with the girl soon.  They would do their best to be supportive of Maile.

When Steve got back to Maile’s cubicle, she was dressed and waiting for her discharge papers.  Just as Steve was about to tell Maile that her mother was gone, the nurse came in and went over the discharge instructions.  Steve assured the nurse that he had experience with concussions.

After they were in the car Maile said, “You haven’t mentioned my mother, so I guess it’s not good.”

“She had already been released and they didn’t have any other information.  If she was released she is physically fine,” said Steve.

“But she didn’t want to see me,” says Maile

“I don’t know why she didn’t come to see you.  Maybe you should try to call her tomorrow.  Whatever she did, none of this is your fault.  And you do have people who care about you.  Catherine and I will do whatever we can to support you,” said Steve.

“Thanks Steve,” said Maile.  They rode the rest of the way home in silence.

When Steve and Maile got home, Bill Rollins met them at the door and asked about Maile’s prognosis.  He sent her up to her room to rest and promised that they would bring her up some dinner soon.  She smiled at both the men and headed up to her room.

After Maile was out of ear shot, Bill said “I thought she might not be comfortable in a whole room of men drinking.  I’ll bring her some dinner and check on her in a little bit.”

“Thanks Bill,” said Steve.

Steve apologized for missing the arrival of his guests and joined them waiting for Danny to finish grilling the steaks.  Both Chin and Danny pulled him aside to ask about Maile.  Steve was pretty sure that Maile had just been adopted into the 5-0 ohana.  Chin agreed to take her statement before they ate.

As they settled down to eat Danny started to speak “Steve was pretty closed mouth about his love life from the beginning, but in hindsight I should have realized that he was seriously involved whether or not he would admit it because he was completely oblivious to any and all attention from women.  Then we met Catherine, and I understood why.”

Joe White said “John McGarrett was a good friend of mine, so I’ve known Steve his whole life.  His father was always proud of him, but he would be so proud to see Steve today, both because of his professional success and in his personal life.  Catherine is everything he would want in a daughter-in-law. In fact, when I told John about the smart, pretty officer challenging his son, he thought it sounded promising. He also would have loved being a grandfather.  While he would have expected nothing less, he would be so pleased to see how you have stepped up to be a father for Joan.  I wish the best of luck to you and Catherine.”

“Several friends told me how hard it is to watch your little girl gets married.  And while I do wonder where the time went because it seems like just yesterday that Catherine was in elementary school, I’m not finding it hard at all.  Steve, you’ve made it very clear that you respect Catherine and want to be her partner in life, which is what I’ve always wanted for her.  Plus, we are getting an adorable little granddaughter out of the deal,” said Bill.

Several other guests shared stories about Steve and Catherine.  All of them were light hearted and fun.

Bill Rollins put together a plate and went upstairs to check on Maile.  He knocked on the door, saying “Maile, I’ve got dinner.  Can I come in?

“Yes,” said Maile in a soft voice.---

“How are you doing Maile?” asked Bill.

“I’m fine,” said Maile.

“Well, you have a moderate concussion, so I doubt that.  Just let me do a quick check and then why don’t you try to eat some dinner?” said Bill setting the tray he brought up on the night stand.

Bill did a quick neuro status exam, and said “You look good.  Someone will be back to check on you in a couple of hours.  Call us if you start to feel worse.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Meanwhile, Catherine, Kono, Margaret, Doris, and Becky were enjoying some pampering.  Kono had arranged for a spa night at her home, and her Aunties had helped her prepare an excellent meal as a gift to Catherine.

During the pampering, the women urged Doris to tell stories about Steve as a child.  Doris decides to oblige.  

“Steve loved the water from the beginning.  A bath or a dip in the ocean was the best way to calm him down as an infant.  He would splash around and play, but was always calmer and much easier to put to bed.  He hated being rocked to sleep.  He’d finish nursing and the fuss wanting to be put down to fall asleep on his own.  He didn’t like sleeping in someone’s arms,” said Doris.

“Well that hasn’t changed,” said Catherine. “Steve still swims to clear his head when he is stressed or needs time to think.  Also, he is very affectionate and attentive, but when it comes to sleeping he does not like to be touching.  We both like to stay on our own sides of the bed for sleeping.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Margaret. “Catherine was the same way.  She liked to rock, but always made it clear when she was ready to be put down to go to sleep.”

“Doris, tell me more about Steve as kid,” asked Catherine.  “Was he really a Boy Scout?  Was he a smart-alec?”

“Oh my, did Steve ever have a smart mouth, at least with John and me.  He mostly managed to keep it under control at school, but that boy could push our buttons.  He spent plenty of time in his room because of that mouth.  I would not have guessed my son would ever be so good at following orders.  He was a Boy Scout.  He loved the outdoor stuff.  I was a Den Mother when he was a cub scout.  He was so cute in his little uniform in kindergarten.”

“Catherine was adorable in her little Daisy Scout uniform, but I felt like I was losing my little girl.  She didn’t have much of a smart mouth, but she was headstrong.  She would not give up once she wanted something.  She locked horns with her father more than a few times,” said Margaret.

“Catherine, you make Steve so happy and you are everything I could want in daughter-in-law.  You two will be true partners.  You’ve taken to being a mother so easily, and you clearly couldn’t love Joan more.  I appreciate that you are making an effort for her to know about Mary,” said Doris.

“I know what it is like to be thrown into motherhood all at once, and it’s a challenge, but you are doing so well.  Mary would be so happy to know that you are helping Steve raise Joan,” said Deb.

“Thank you so much,” said Catherine.  “I hope I can live up to the vision you have of me.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

The poker game has wrapped-up, and Bill was the last to leave.  He had been doing one final check on Maile.

“Steve, I think Maile will be fine.  To be sure you probably want to check on her once more.  I suggested she leave her door cracked open so you can peak in.  Please call me if you have any questions no matter what time,” said Bill.

“Thanks Bill.  I really appreciate your help and everything you said earlier.  I want to do my best to be a good husband to Catherine and a good father to Joan,” said.

Bill hugged Steve and said “Welcome to the family son.”

Bill left, and Steve sat down on the couch.  He thought about how lucky he was.  Really, really lucky.  He felt like he was getting close to the life he would have had if his mother had never faked her death and his father never sent him away.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Steve woke to the sound of the shower running.  He was surprised that Catherine was up before him.  Usually, it was the other way around.  He put on a shirt and went to check on Maile and Joan.  When he stuck his head in Maile’s room, he could see her stir and talk in her sleep and decided that meant she was ok.  Joan was babbling to herself in the crib.  He picked up is daughter changed her and dressed in her in little sun suit.  He was somewhat surprised to see his suit, shoes, and shaving kit lying out on the twin bed they kept in Joan’s room.  He realized he shouldn’t be surprised that he was being kicked out of the master suite so it could be taken over by the bride and her attendants.

Steve was pouring some Cheerios on Joan’s high chair tray when the doorbell started ringing.  First it was Doris and Danny both arriving to help supervise the set-up for the wedding.  Then Becky and Kono with what seemed to Steve like enough bags for a week of travel.  While he realized that he was getting off easy, he still kind of wished that Catherine had gone for boardies and slippers and burgers on the grill.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Chin and Danny were acting as ushers.  Steve had been banished to the house until it was time for the wedding to start.  He was starting to get anxious.  Not about marrying Catherine, just about the wedding itself and a little about how Catherine would react to his honeymoon plan.  He had booked them a room at the Manoa Valley Inn and arranged for them to check-in as soon as they could leave the reception and stay until just before dinner on Sunday.  It was a lovely place, with great outdoor space, easy access to the arboretum; he had made them dinner reservations, but romantic getaways had never been something he planned.  He was fairly certain that he didn’t really need to plan activities for the honeymoon that required them leaving the bedroom, but it seemed presumptuous to assume they wouldn’t.  They’d done it before but only when he and Catherine hadn’t seen each other for months at a time. He stood and fiddled with the lei.  Then Danny came to get him.

Steve stood on the beach in front of the Chaplin with Danny and Chin beside him.  Catherine was walking down the “aisle” on her father’s arm looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her in a simple white sundress with some ruffles around the neck and at the hem.  Her hair was up, and she was wearing a lovely lei.  Becky, Kono, and Grace followed her looking lovely in blue, even though Kono limped some walking up the aisle.  He couldn’t believe how lucky he was.  For a brief moment, he wished Freddy was there to see that it was indeed the real deal, and he hadn’t screwed it up.

For her part, Catherine was thinking that she had never seen Steve look so handsome; they had come a long way from San Diego, and she was so happy to think about where they were going next.  She loved him so very much.

The Chaplin did a short reading; spoke about the commitment Steve and Catherine were making, and then had them repeat their vows.  It took no more than 20 minutes.  When the Chaplin told them to kiss, they did and it was like something entirely new.  Neither one really felt like the ceremony would change anything, but they both felt a spark of something different.  Apparently, voicing the commitment really did matter.  The guests cheered.

The receiving line was a little bit of a blur for Steve.  He wasn’t sure he had that many hugs in the previous thirty-seven years of his life.  At the moment, he was trying to hug guests, shake hands, and keep Joan from eating his lei.  She decided she wanted her daddy to hold her.  It was kind of mind blowing to Steve that he had a wife, a daughter, a house and two sensible family cars.  He was thrilled, but also realized that even two years ago this was the farthest thing from his mind.

Catherine was happier than she had ever been in her life.  She was surrounded by her family; she had just married the man she’d loved for years, and it was just what she wanted.  While she had always liked kids and had always wanted kids, she never thought of herself as a baby person, but watching her husband try to keep his lei out of her daughter’s mouth made her heart melt in a way she hadn’t known was possible.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

The reception was very relaxed.  There was good food and everyone mingled.  Catherine and Steve both felt like they got to talk to their guests.  They purposefully avoid formal toasts.  Catherine was pleased to notice that Becky and Danny spent a decent amount of time talking.  She thought her friends would hit it off if given the chance.

Becky managed to get Catherine alone for a minute and said “How have I never noticed Danny Williams before?  He seems like a good guy.  Is he seeing anyone?”

“He is a good guy.  As far as I know he’s not seeing anyone.  I think you two might have lots in common” said Catherine.

At the same time, Danny was asking Steve about Becky.  “Cath’s friend seems interesting.  What’s her story?” asked Danny.

“They’ve been friends a long time.  Becky actually hasn’t been stationed at Pearl that long, so I don’t know her that well, but she’s one of Cath’s best friends.  She a great surfer and has a wicked sense of humor.  You should ask her to coffee.  Or Cath and I can have you both over for some kind of low key dinner,” said Steve.

“We’ll see,” said Danny noncommittally.

Later Aunt Deb caught Steve and said “I’m going to pack you two some food, then if you don’t feel like leaving your room to go to dinner, you don’t have to.  I’ll leave it in the car.”

“Thanks Aunt Deb,” said Steve.

Soon after, Catherine walked over to Steve and said very softly “let’s get out of here Commander, I really, really want to get you out of that suit and consummate this marriage.”

“I love the way you think, Lieutenant,” said Steve.

After last minute instructions to Aunt Deb and Maile, Steve and Catherine were about to get on their way.  When Steve handed Joan off to Aunt Deb, she started to cry.  Steve gave Catherine a pained look.  Before he could speak, Catherine said “Joan will be fine Steve.  She’s not going on our honeymoon with us.  But you’re a good dad.”

Very soon Steve and Catherine leaving in the Stingray, which Danny had Chin had decorated with streamers and a “Just Married” sign.

“So where are you taking me?” asked Catherine.

“I’ve booked the Dillingham Room at the Manoa Valley Inn.  I arranged for us to be able to check in now and not have to check out until five pm tomorrow.  I made dinner reservations for tonight, but Aunt Deb also apparently packed us a picnic we could have for dinner.  There are nice grounds with waterfall pool; we are close to the arboretum, or we don’t have to do anything,” said Steve.

“That sounds wonderful Steve.  Why don’t we kind of play things by ear?  Right now I’m just looking forward to having some time alone with my husband.  I don’t think we’ll have any problems finding anything to do,” said Catherine with a smile.

“Good.  That sounds good.  I didn’t want to plan too much, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous,” said Steve.

Catherine heard a note of insecurity in her news husband’s voice; she kind of wanted to tease him about being a pretty sure thing, but given how hard it was for Steve to be vulnerable, so she didn’t want to be at all critical.  So she answered “Steve, I’m looking forward to having some down time together.  It sounds just perfect.”

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

Catherine reluctantly got out of bed to use the bathroom, on her way back from the bathroom, she stopped to pick up her dress and Steve’s suit to hang them up.

“So I get a ring on your finger, Mrs. McGarrett and all of a sudden you are cleaning up after me?” said Steve coming up from behind Catherine, nuzzling her and taking his clothes out of her hands and hanging them up himself.  “I kind of like it, but maybe if I help out, I can get you to come back to bed with me.”

Back in bed, Catherine cuddled up with Steve; enjoying being close to him with no reason to move and no place they had to be.  “Today was perfect.  It was really everything I would have wanted in a wedding even if we had, had lots more time to plan it.  I’ve always loved you in your service dress blues, but I have to say I’m becoming attached to you in a civilian suit.”

“Thank you, but I’m pretty sure no one else was looking at me.  You looked gorgeous, radiant in fact.  Since cammies would have been inappropriate, I’m glad you wore a white sundress.  Although, I like you best like this, naked in bed with me,” said Steve smirking.

“Steve, only you would find cammies sexy.  I’m not sure there is a less sexy outfit possible.  I kind of wonder what Annapolis did to that adolescent brain of yours.  But I like you naked in bed too.”  Catherine emphasized that statement by kissing her husband.

 

~~HW 5 0~~

 

“Well, back to our real life,” said Catherine as Steve pulled into the driveway.

“Yeah, but it’s a pretty good one,” said Steve.

“Yes, it is,” answered Catherine.

Steve knew they had plenty of challenges to handle going forward, but was excited about his new life as a family man.


End file.
